Safety systems and modes of lighting for electric bicycles

ABSTRACT

Various systems and methods associated with protecting a rider of an electric bicycle from hazards while riding their bicycle are described. In some embodiments, the systems and methods enhance the safety of the rider in response current detected conditions surrounding the rider, such as conditions associated with the route or path traveled by the rider, other vehicles within the route or path traveled by the rider, potential hazards within the route or path traveled by the rider, environmental conditions through which the rider is traveling, and so on.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.17/216,440, filed on Mar. 29, 2021, entitled SECURITY SYSTEMS ANDCOMMUNICATION NETWORKS FOR ELECTRIC BICYCLES, which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Electric bicycles, or e-bikes, are a popular method of transportationfor use by individual riders, families, commercial enterprises, and soon. Riders utilize e-bikes for many different types of travel, includingbike trips, commuting, transporting cargo, carrying children and otherpassengers, making deliveries within cities and other urbanenvironments, and so on. It follows that riders utilize e-bikes in allconditions (e.g., warm, cold, sunny, rainy, snowy, and so on) and attimes of the day (e.g., early morning, during the day, at night, and soon).

Electric bicycles (and other bicycles) include components and devicesthat assist in enhancing the safety of a rider on their bicycle. Thesecomponents/devices include lighting components (e.g., headlights,taillights, frame or rim lighting, downlighting), reflectors andreflective paint, and sensors (e.g., detection or tire pressure sensors)and associated detection systems. While such systems exist, they havenot been widely adopted by riders, and suffer from lack of effectivenessor are useful in enhancing the rider's safety when riding on an e-bikeor other bicycle.

These and other drawbacks exist with respect to conventional lightingand safety systems adapted for electric bicycles.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present technology will be described and explainedthrough the use of the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an electric bicycle and associatedcommunication network.

FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating network components supported by anelectric bicycle.

FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating various sensors supported by anelectric bicycle.

FIG. 2C is a diagram illustrating various lighting systems supported byan electric bicycle.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating components of a rider safetysystem.

FIG. 4A is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for performinga safety action on behalf of a rider of an electric bicycle.

FIG. 4B a flow diagram illustrating an example method for selecting ahaptic feedback sequence to perform for a rider of an electric bicycle.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating components of a hazardous objectdetection system.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for performingan action for a rider of an electric bicycle in response to detecting ahazardous object.

FIGS. 7A-7D Are diagrams illustrating the detection of differenthazardous objects.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating components of a bicyclevisibility system.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for enhancingthe visibility of an electric bicycle.

FIGS. 10A-10D are diagrams illustrating different enhanced visibilityactions.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating components of an automaticlighting system.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for adjustingthe lighting of an electric bicycle based on a current mode of travel ofthe electric bicycle.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for adjustingthe lighting of an electric bicycle based on a current action performedby the electric bicycle.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating components of a location-basedlighting system.

FIG. 15 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for performinga safety action based on a location of an electric bicycle.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating safety actions performed for a riderof an electric bicycle.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating components of a path lightingsystem.

FIG. 18 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for performinga safety action based on a determination of a path traveled by anelectric bicycle.

FIGS. 19A-19B are diagrams illustrating different path-based safetyactions.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating components of a bicycle controlsystem.

FIG. 21 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for controllingan operation of an electric bicycle.

FIGS. 22-23 are diagrams illustrating example user interfaces presentedto a rider of an electric bicycle.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram illustrating components of a frictiondetection system.

FIG. 25 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for alerting arider of an electric bicycle of a current traction condition for theelectric bicycle.

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating an example user interface presented toa rider of an electric bicycle.

In the drawings, some components are not drawn to scale, and somecomponents and/or operations can be separated into different blocks orcombined into a single block for discussion of some of theimplementations of the present technology. Moreover, while thetechnology is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms,specific implementations have been shown by way of example in thedrawings and are described in detail below. The intention, however, isnot to limit the technology to the particular implementations described.On the contrary, the technology is intended to cover all modifications,equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the technologyas defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

Various systems and methods associated with protecting a rider of anelectric bicycle from hazards while riding their bicycle are described.In some embodiments, the systems and methods enhance the safety of therider in response current detected conditions surrounding the rider,such as conditions associated with the route or path traveled by therider, other vehicles within the route or path traveled by the rider,potential hazards within the route or path traveled by the rider,environmental conditions through which the rider is traveling, and soon.

Further, in some embodiments, the systems and methods modify and/orcontrol operations of an electric bicycle based on informationassociated with the rider and/or conditions surrounding the rider asthey ride their electric bicycle. The systems and methods can utilizeand/or control lighting systems, haptic or audio feedback systems, alertsystems, braking systems, and other bicycle supported safety componentsand devices.

In various embodiments, the technology described herein determines thata potential hazard or unsafe condition has or may arise for a rider ofan electric bicycle and performs a bicycle or rider specific action tomitigate, prevent, and/or avoid the potential hazard or unsafecondition. To do so, the systems and methods described herein enhance orexpand upon typical safety systems, such as lighting or avoidancesystems (e.g., collision avoidance systems), by creating or targetingactions that protect a rider of a bicycle associated with a specificride context or unsafe condition, among other benefits.

Thus, the systems and methods facilitate a safe and enjoyable riderexperience by enhancing a rider's safety and/or optimizing the operationof their electric bicycle in response to conditions, hazards, and otherfactors affecting (or predicted to affect) the rider, among otherbenefits.

While described herein with respect to electric bicycles, in someembodiments aspects of the technology described herein can be configuredor utilized with other bicycles or cycles, such as non-electricbicycles, tricycles, scooters or other wheeled micro-mobility vehicles,mopeds, and so on.

Various embodiments of the technology will now be described. Thefollowing description provides specific details for a thoroughunderstanding and an enabling description of these embodiments. Oneskilled in the art will understand, however, that these embodiments maybe practiced without many of these details. Additionally, somewell-known structures or functions may not be shown or described indetail, so as to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the relevant descriptionof the various embodiments. The terminology used in the descriptionpresented below is intended to be interpreted in its broadest reasonablemanner, even though it is being used in conjunction with a detaileddescription of certain specific embodiments.

Examples of Electric Bicycle Networks and Suitable CommunicationEnvironments

As described herein, the technology employs various systems and methodsto provide a safe and enjoyable rider experience to a rider or user ofan electric bicycle. FIG. 1 is a diagram 100 illustrating an electricbicycle 110 and associated network environment.

A rider 105 (e.g., user, cyclist, and so on) rides their electricbicycle 110 along a route or path 120 within a location, area, orenvironment 122. For example, the rider 105 can take a bike ride usingthe electric bicycle 110 on a road, street (e.g., in a bike lane orsharrow), bike path, and so on. The route/path 120 and/or location 122can include other bicycles 112A-B or micro-mobility vehicles, as well ascars and other motorized vehicles 115A-C. Further, the route/path 120and/or environment 122 can include various infrastructure devices orobjects, including traffic signals, road signs, curbs or other roadwayobjects, and so on.

The rider 105 (e.g., via an associated mobile device) and electricbicycle 110 communicate over a network 125, such as a wireless ortelecommunications network. As described herein, the electric bicycle110 can include various wireless components that facilitate sending andreceiving messages or data between the electric bicycle 110 and othervehicles, such as the bicycles 112A-B, the vehicles 115A-C, networkedinfrastructure components, and so on.

In some cases, the rider 105 and/or electric bicycle 110 communicatesover the network 125 with a safety system 130, such as a system at aremote location (e.g., a cloud-based server) that facilitates theperformance of various safety actions by the electric bicycle 110 withinthe environment 122. For example, the safety system 130 can include orincorporate aspects of various methods and systems, described in moredetail herein, that detect hazards, determine safety actions to perform,and/or cause the electric bicycle 110 to modify current or futureoperations. The safety system 130 can include or be associated with asafety database, which can store information associated with thedetection of hazards, the performance of safety actions, thecapabilities or devices supported by the electric bicycle 110, and soon.

The rider 105 and/or electric bicycle 110 can also communicate over thenetwork 125 with a fleet management server 140 configured to performoperations when managing a group or fleet of electric bicycles, such asthe electric bicycle 110. For example, the fleet management server 140can store data in an associated fleet database 145 for the electricbicycles of a managed fleet or fleets. The fleet management server 145can communicate with the fleet bicycles, such as by sending informationto the bicycles, receiving data from the bicycles (e.g., telematics orsensor data), and so on. In some cases, the fleet management server 140manages the electric bicycles as Internet of Things (I) devices over thenetwork 125.

The fleet database 145 can store data associated with the electricbicycles of the fleet, the riders employing the bicycles, the types ofeach of the bicycles, as well as data representing the use of thebicycles and their components (e.g., motors, batteries, controllers, andso on). For example, the fleet database 145 can store data collectedfrom the bicycles that identifies the route traveled by the bicycles andthe state and operation of the batteries, motors, and/or controllers ofthe bicycles. Further, the fleet database 145 can collect or receivesensor data from the bicycles, such as data from sensors that capturemovement data for the bicycles and data from sensors that captureenvironmental data associated with the bicycles, the routes traveled bythe bicycles, and/or the environment within which the bicycles travel,among other data.

In some embodiments, the fleet database 145 and/or the safety database135 can store information associated with safety events, hazards, and/orunsafe conditions related to the electric bicycle 110 and/or a fleet ofbicycles, as well as information associated with actions performed bythe bicycles in response to hazards or unsafe conditions, whenapplicable. The tracking and storage of such information can enable thesafety system 130 and/or the fleet management server 140 to identify orpredict a safety context or base safety condition for a given locationthrough which the bicycles travel. Further, the tracked information,collected from a group of bicycles, can inform the monitoring andactions performed on behalf of a single bicycle within the group ofbicycles, enabling that single bicycle to benefit from safetydeterminations and actions performed for the other bicycles.

The tracked safety information can include accident information as wellas “near miss” information, where an accident does not occur, but adangerous condition and/or hazard was determined to be present withrespect to a bicycle. Thus, the databases 135, 145 can be leveraged bythe safety system 130 and fleet management server 140 to identifydangerous or potentially dangerous conditions or locations for theelectric bicycle 110 without utilizing crash or other accident data setsobtained from various state organizations. These data sets can beincomplete and/or inaccurate in depicting the likely danger or unsafecondition of a route or location, because such data sets mainly trackactual crash or accident occurrences.

As an example, the databases 135, 145 can track, for a given location orgroup of locations (e.g., a city or area of a city), informationcaptured from electric bicycles as they travel through the locations.The following table depicts an example of information tracked and storedin the databases 135, 145:

TABLE 1 Location Event % Action to be performed Main/State intersection23% base warning haptic feedback Cherry Street Bike Path N  7% n/aCherry Street Bike Path S 13% Interface notification

As depicted in Table 1, the database can store information, collectedfrom a fleet of bicycles over time, that relates a location or area toan action to be performed for any electric bicycle that enters ortravels through the location or area. For example, the first entry,associated with the location “Main/State intersection,” indicated that23 percent of all bicycles that have traveled through that location(e.g., a busy intersection in a city) have detected a hazard or unsafecondition (e.g., a car turning into a bike lane).

Based on that percentage meeting a certain threshold, the fleetmanagement server 140 will cause a bicycle that enters that location toperform a “base warning haptic feedback” action (e.g., presenting hapticfeedback via the grips of the bicycle to the rider) that proactivelyindicates to a rider that the bicycle is entering a predetermined unsafelocation. Of course, Table 1 can include other types of informationand/or other ways of tracking events and actions. Also, further detailsregarding other actions to perform are discussed herein.

The electric bicycle 110 can also communicate over the network 125 witha location system 150, such as a system that stores information aboutmaps and routes (e.g., GPS information), such as in an associatedlocation database 155. The location system 150 can also store andprovide information obtained from various public databases, such asinformation that identifies accidents or crashes for locations,construction or other blockages of routes, re-routing of traffic,traffic patterns, topological information, and so on. The electricbicycle 110, the safety system 130, and/or the fleet management server140 can request for and receive information from the location system150.

While the various systems as depicted in FIG. 1 as being remotelylocated from the electric bicycle 110, some or all aspects of thesesystems can be incorporated into the systems of the electric bicycle110, as described herein. Examples of the type of electrical andcommunication systems supported by the electric bicycle 110 will now bedescribed.

FIG. 2A depicts an electric bicycle 200, such as the electric bicycle110, that incorporates many of the various features of the technologydescribed herein. As depicted, the electric bicycle, or e-bike, is acity e-bike configured to be propelled either by human pedaling of thee-bike and/or via an electric motor that assists the human's pedal-poweror propels the e-bike without pedaling (similar to a moped or scooter).Of course, the electric bicycle 200 can be of various other types orstyles, including different classes of bikes (e.g., class 1, 2, or 3e-bike), electric bikes having different frames (e.g., road bikes,commuter bikes, folding bikes, cargo bikes, trikes), and so on.

The electric bicycle 200 includes components common to bicycles, such asa front wheel and rear wheel that support a frame of the bicycle, acrankset (that supports pedals, not shown), a chain that extends fromthe crankset to a rear axle of the rear wheel, a seat, handlebars, cargorack, and so on. The frame can include a head tube, a down tube, a toptube and a seat tube, as well as seat stays or other cross tubes. Thefront wheel can be attached to the frame via a fork connected to thehead tube, and the rear wheel can be attached to the frame via a dropoutassembly of the frame.

The electric bicycle 200 also includes a battery pack 210 positionedand/or mounted to a down tube of the frame, a controller 215 mountedwithin the down tube (and connected to the battery 210), and an electricmotor 220 (e.g., a hub motor) mounted to the rear wheel, and connectedto the controller 215 and battery pack 210. In some cases, the batterypack 210 and/or controller 215 can be integrated or semi-integrated intothe frame of the electric bicycle 200. During operation of the electricbicycle 200, the battery pack 210 provides power to the electric motor220, which propels the bicycle under control of the controller 215. Insome configurations, the battery pack 21, the controller 215, and/or themotor 220 are mounted to other components of the frame (e.g., the motor220 can be a mid-drive motor).

Further, the electric bicycle 200 can include an integrated securitydevice 225. The integrated security device 225 can include a cable ortether lock component integrated with a wheel lock (having a sliding orrotating shackle), which enables a rider to secure his/her bicycle viaone or two integrated mechanisms of deterrence or protection housedwithin the bike lock.

In order to communicate with the network 125, the electric bicycle 200includes a communication device 230 (located inside the top tube), suchas a wireless communication device that is configured to communicateover a wireless network, such as a cellular network. The communicationdevice 230 can include components configured to communicate over thenetwork 125, such as WiFi components, cellular components (e.g., 4G or5G cellular components), Bluetooth components, and so on. For example,the communication device 230 can include various embedded sensors,processors (microprocessors), and connectivity ports or antennas. Insome cases, the communication device 230 functions as an Internet ofThings (Iot) device and can enable the electric bicycle 200 to be partof a network of connected e-bikes, such as a fleet of electric bicyclesin communication with a central server or portal (e.g., the fleetmanagement server 140)

As described herein, the communication device 230 provides one or morecommunication methods, protocols, systems and/or devices, such ascellular communication technologies, Bluetooth® communicationtechnologies, Near-Field Communication (NFC) technologies, RadioFrequency Identification (RFID) communication technologies, GSM/GPRS,and so on. These technologies can communicate via various communicationprotocols, such as HTTP, MQTT (Message Queueing Telemetry Transport),AMQP (Advanced Message Queueing Protocol), and so on.

Thus, the communication device 230 can include various combinations ofcommunication technologies, in order to establish or support an electricbicycle network.

Example Combinations Include:

a Bluetooth component that facilitates Bluetooth protocol communicationsbetween the communication device and a controller, battery pack, and/orelectric motor, and a wireless component that facilitates WiFi protocolcommunications between the communication device and the wirelessnetwork;

a Bluetooth component that facilitates Bluetooth protocol communicationsbetween a communication device and the controller, battery pack, and/orelectric motor, and a cellular component that facilitates cellularprotocol communications between the communication device and thewireless network;

a bicycle communications component that facilitates communicationsbetween the communication device and a controller, a battery pack,and/or an electric motor of the electric bicycle, and a networkcommunications component that facilitates communications between theelectric bicycle and the wireless network; and so on.

As described herein, the communication device 230, in some cases, actsas a communications hub for the electric bicycle, and can performvarious operations or methods as the communications hub. For example,the communication device 230 can perform a method of facilitatingcommunications between components of an electric bicycle by receiving,via a bicycle communications component of the communications device,information associated with a current operation of a component of theelectric bicycle from a controller of the electric bicycle, andtransmitting, via a network communications component of thecommunication device, a message to the fleet management server 140 thatis remote from the electric bicycle over a wireless network, where themessage includes the information associated with the current operationof the component of the electric bicycle.

The communication device 230 can then receive, at the networkcommunications component of the communication device, a reply messagefrom the fleet management server over the wireless network, and send,via the bicycle communications component, a control signal to thecomponent of the electric bicycle to control the current operation ofthe component of the electric bicycle in response to the reply messagereceived from the fleet management server 140.

In some cases, the communication device 230 is disposed within aninternal area of the frame of the electric bicycle, such as within aninternal area of a top tube of the electric bicycle, an internal area ofa down tube of the electric bicycle, or other internal areas within thebicycle frame.

The electric bicycle 200 can also include a display device 235, which isconfigured to receive input from a rider of the bicycle 200 and/orpresent information to the rider of the bicycle. For example, thedisplay device 235 can present information associated with a currentride or trip (e.g., speed, pedal assist level, battery level, route, andso on), information associated with communications by the communicationdevice 230 over the network 125, information associated with safetyactions (e.g., alerts, notifications, and/or instructions), and so on.The display device 235 can also facilitate receiving input from therider, such as input to adjust the pedal assist level or to communicateinformation over the network 125.

Thus, in some embodiments, the electric bicycle 200 provides a bikesupported network of various communication components, such ascomponents configured to trigger alerts and/or alarms associated withhazards or unsafe conditions around the bicycle 200, as well ascomponents configured to perform other communication functions, asdescribed herein. In some cases, the bike supported network includes thecontrol device or controller 215 that controls functions of the electricbattery 210 and/or the hub motor 220.

In addition to the components depicted in FIG. 2A, the electric bicyclecan include other components not shown, such as pedals, pedal assistsensors, throttles, torque sensors and other bike or component movementsensors, brakes and braking systems, various accessories, fenders,various types of rims, tires, or wheels, locking or security systems,lights and reflectors, bells or other audible alert systems, GPS,screens, and/or other user interfaces or display devices, and so on.

Further, the electric bicycle 200, in some embodiments, can operate in alow power state mode, where, when the electric battery 210 is in a low(or critically low) power state, the bicycle 200 provides some basic orselected functions via the sensors and components described herein. Forexample, a low power state can employ sensors to detect hazards andprovide warnings to a rider but may avoid high data transmission orcomputation techniques until the battery has a higher state of charge.The selectivity of functions provided during a lower power state can bebased on context of the rider or electric bicycle 200, such as a contextthat identifies a certain level of safety or hazard at a locationthrough which the electric bicycle 200 is traveling.

FIG. 2B depicts the various sensors supported by an electric bicycle,such as the electric bicycle 200. The electric bicycle 200 includessensors (e.g., sensors 250) that capture data associated with movementof the electric bicycle, as well as sensors (e.g., sensors 245) thatcapture data from the environment through which the electric bicycletravels (e.g., data from the route 120 or within the environment 122).The electric bicycle 200 can power the sensors 245, 250 via the battery210 and control the sensors via the controller 215.

The environmental sensors 145 can be located, disposed, and/or attachedat various locations of the electric bicycle 200, as shown. For example,sensors can be located on the handlebars (e.g., at the center or at eachend), on the top tube, on the fork, on the seat, on the rear rack, andso on. The sensors can be configured and placed at bike locations todetect objects and the movement of the objects within the entireproximity (360 degrees around) of the bicycle 200.

These environmental sensors 145 can include optical sensors, motionsensors, range finders, infrared (IR) sensors, time of flight (ToF)sensors, radar and/or LIDAR sensors, image capture components, and othersensors configured to sense objects (e.g., the vehicles 115A-C, theother bicycles 112A-B, pedestrians, terrain, signs, and so on) and themovement of those objects with respect to the electric bicycle 200.

The environmental sensors 145 can also include sensors that measureenvironmental and weather factors, such as temperature sensors, humiditysensors, vision or visibility sensors, wind speed sensors, atmosphericpressure sensors, rain gauges, microphones and audio sensors, and so on.

The bicycle sensors, or movement sensors 250, capture data associatedwith the movement of the electric bicycle 200. The movement sensors 250can be located, disposed, and/or attached at various locations of theelectric bicycle 200, as shown. For example, the movement sensors 250can be placed within the top tube, the seat tube, the lock 225, the downtube, or other areas of the bicycle 200, such as areas located at ornear the center of mass of the electric bicycle 200 (with or without therider 105).

These movement sensors 250 can include all types of accelerometers,gyroscopes, inertial measurement units (IMUs), pressure sensors, loadcells or sensors, strain gauges, and so on. For example, the movementsensors 250, or an arrangement of sensors (e.g., two or more sensors 250placed at different areas of the frame of the bicycle 200, can capturemovement data and force data for the bicycle 200, such as dataidentifying the velocity or change in velocity of a moving bicycle, theorientation of the bicycle, vibrations applied to the bicycle, theturning or stopping of the bicycle, mass supported by the wheels, and soon.

The electric bicycle 200 (and the systems described herein) can interactwith other sensors, such as body worn sensors or helmet worn sensorsthat connect and communicate wirelessly to the electrical systems of thebicycle 200. For example, body sensors can include cameras, heart ratemonitors, accelerometers, and so on, which capture data associated withthe rider and/or the operation of the bicycle 200.

FIG. 2C depicts the various lighting systems and devices supported by anelectric bicycle, such as the electric bicycle 200. The electric bicycle200, which can power the lighting devices via the battery 210 andcontrol the lighting devices via the controller 215, utilizes thelighting devices to present illumination in a variety of intensities,directions, patterns, and so on.

The lighting system of the bicycle 200 can include a front light 260,such as a headlamp, which can be mounted to the head post and/orhandlebars of the bicycle 200. The front light 260 can directillumination towards a front area of the bicycle 200 (e.g., parallel toa direction of travel of the bicycle 200). The handlebars can includeend lights 262, which present illumination outwardly from the bicycle(e.g., in a direction perpendicular or at an angle with respect to thedirection of travel of the bicycle 200). In some cases, the end lights262 can direct illumination towards the front of the bicycle 200, suchas in tandem with the front light 260.

Other lighting devices can be disposed on the bicycle 200 to directillumination to a side area of the bicycle (e.g., a peripheral area tothe direction of travel). For example, a chain-stay lighting device 272,a pedal lighting device 277, a rack mounted lighting device 269, and/ora wheel or spoke lighting device 275 can project illumination around thebicycle 200.

Further, the bicycle 200 can include various lighting devices configuredand disposed to illuminate a rear area of the bicycle. These devicesinclude a rear rack light 265 (or any rear light) and a seat light 267.Also, lighting devices are mounted or attached to light an area belowthe bicycle (e.g., downlighting), including a bottom tube lightingdevice 270, as well as some of the other lighting devices (e.g., thechain-stay lighting device 272).

Also, the lighting system can include body worn lighting, such aslighting devices disposed and/or attached to the rider's body and/orhelmet. Such lighting can interact with the electric bicycle 200 viawired or wireless communication, and perform the various techniquesdescribed herein. Example body worn lighting includes helmet lights(e.g., smart helmets), light up gloves, light up jackets, and so on.

As described herein, each of the lighting devices can project lightingin a variety of different intensities, patterns, colors, and directions.The devices can include LED components (e.g., white LEDs), LASER orlight projection components, or other lighting systems, includingreflectors, reflective paint, and so on. Thus, the systems and methodscan utilize some or all of the lighting devices to illuminate theenvironment 122 (and objects within) through which the bicycle 200travels (e.g., to see) and to become visible (or more visible) to otherswithin the environment 122 (e.g., to be seen). As discussed herein, suchillumination can include (1) creating, expanding, or dynamicallyaltering a lighting envelope formed around the bicycle 200, (2)modifying a direction or intensity of the illumination, (3) outlining orcreating lighted pathways within the environment 122, (4) generating amore visible version of the bicycle 200 (e.g., in 3D space), and so on.

FIGS. 1A-2C and the components, systems, servers, and devices depictedherein provide a general computing environment and network within whichthe technology described herein can be implemented. Further, thesystems, methods, and techniques introduced here can be implemented asspecial-purpose hardware (for example, circuitry), as programmablecircuitry appropriately programmed with software and/or firmware, or asa combination of special-purpose and programmable circuitry. Hence,implementations can include a machine-readable medium having storedthereon instructions which can be used to program a computer (or otherelectronic devices) to perform a process. The machine-readable mediumcan include, but is not limited to, floppy diskettes, optical discs,compact disc read-only memories (CD-ROMs), magneto-optical disks, ROMs,random access memories (RAMs), erasable programmable read-only memories(EPROMs), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories(EEPROMs), magnetic or optical cards, flash memory, or other types ofmedia/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronicinstructions.

The network or cloud 125 can be any network, ranging from a wired orwireless local area network (LAN), to a wired or wireless wide areanetwork (WAN), to the Internet or some other public or private network,to a cellular (e.g., 4G, LTE, or 5G network), and so on. While theconnections between the various devices and the network 125 and areshown as separate connections, these connections can be any kind oflocal, wide area, wired, or wireless network, public or private.

Further, any or all components depicted in the Figures described hereincan be supported and/or implemented via one or more computing systems orservers. Although not required, aspects of the various components orsystems are described in the general context of computer-executableinstructions, such as routines executed by a general-purpose computer,e.g., mobile device, a server or cloud-based computer, or personalcomputer. The system can be practiced with other communications, dataprocessing, or computer system configurations, including: Internetappliances, hand-held devices (including tablet computers and/orpersonal digital assistants (PDAs)), all manner of cellular or mobilephones, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmableconsumer electronics, set-top boxes, network PCs, mini-computers,mainframe computers, AR/VR devices, and the like. Indeed, the terms“computer,” “host,” and “host computer,” and “mobile device” and“handset” are generally used interchangeably herein and refer to any ofthe above devices and systems, as well as any data processor.

Aspects of the system can be embodied in a special purpose computingdevice or data processor that is specifically programmed, configured, orconstructed to perform one or more of the computer-executableinstructions explained in detail herein. Aspects of the system may alsobe practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks ormodules are performed by remote processing devices, which are linkedthrough a communications network, such as a Local Area Network (LAN),Wide Area Network (WAN), or the Internet. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and remotememory storage devices.

Aspects of the system may be stored or distributed on computer-readablemedia (e.g., physical and/or tangible non-transitory computer-readablestorage media), including magnetically or optically readable computerdiscs, hard-wired or pre-programmed chips (e.g., EEPROM semiconductorchips), nanotechnology memory, or other data storage media. Indeed,computer implemented instructions, data structures, screen displays, andother data under aspects of the system may be distributed over theInternet or over other networks (including wireless networks), on apropagated signal on a propagation medium (e.g., an electromagneticwave(s), a sound wave, etc.) over a period of time, or they may beprovided on any analog or digital network (packet switched, circuitswitched, or other scheme). Portions of the system may reside on aserver computer, while corresponding portions may reside on a clientcomputer such as a mobile or portable device, and thus, while certainhardware platforms are described herein, aspects of the system areequally applicable to nodes on a network. In an alternative embodiment,the mobile device or portable device may represent the server portion,while the server may represent the client portion.

Examples of a Safety Feedback System

As described herein, in some embodiments, the electric bicycle 100utilizes the systems and methods described herein to perform specificand/or targeted safety actions for an electric bicycle (e.g., electricbicycle 110, 200) and/or the rider of the electric bicycle. FIG. 3 is ablock diagram illustrating components of a rider safety system 300.

The components and/or modules of the rider safety system 300 (which canbe supported or included by the safety system 130 and/or the fleetmanagement server 140) can be implemented with a combination of software(e.g., executable instructions, or computer code) and hardware (e.g., atleast a memory and processor). Accordingly, as used herein, in someexample embodiments, a component/module is a processor-implementedcomponent/module and represents a computing device having a processorthat is at least temporarily configured and/or programmed by executableinstructions stored in memory to perform one or more of the functionsthat are described herein. The rider safety system 300 includes a hazarddetection module 310, an action selection module 320, and an actionmodule 330.

In some embodiments, the hazard detection module 310 is configuredand/or programmed to receive data captured by one or more sensors of anelectric bicycle, such as data from an environment through which theelectric bicycle is traveling. Using the received data, the hazarddetection module 310 can detect an occurrence of a potential hazard tothe electric bicycle or to a rider of the electric bicycle and/or animminence or immediacy of the potential hazard to the electric bicycleor to the rider of the electric bicycle.

For example, the hazard detection module 310 can utilize sensor datacaptured by the sensors 245 (e.g., radar sensors, lidar sensors,ultrasonic sensors, acoustic sensors, LED sensors, GPS sensors, and soon) when detecting an object proximate to the electric bicycle (e.g.,bicycle 110 or 200) and/or the movement of the object proximate to theelectric bicycle. Example potential hazards include vehicles, otherbicycles, pedestrians, ground objects, structures, and so on.

In some embodiments, the action selection module 320 is configuredand/or programmed to select a safety action based on the occurrence ofthe potential hazard and/or the imminence of the potential hazard. Forexample, the action selection module 320 selects a safety action thatrelates or is associated with the potential hazard and the imminence ofthe potential hazard. In some cases, the selected safety action caninclude a combination of actions that both enhance the visibility of theelectric bicycle (e.g., an action that causes the bicycle to be seen)and increase the vision or awareness of the rider of the electricbicycle (e.g., an action that causes the rider to see or be aware).

In some embodiments, the action module 330 is configured and/orprogrammed to cause the electric bicycle to perform the selected safetyaction in response to the detected potential hazard. For example, theaction module 330 can cause the electric bicycle 200 to emit an alarm,modify illumination presented by the bicycle, send a message to thepotential hazard, alert the rider of the bicycle, adjust operations ofthe bicycle, and so on.

Thus, the rider safety system 300 includes modules that utilize sensordata to identify a potential hazard (or a type of hazard) and animmediacy of the potential hazard to the electric bicycle 200 and selecta safety action or actions to perform to mitigate or prevent an unsafecondition arising in response to the identified potential hazard and thetiming in which it may impact the bicycle.

The system 300, therefore, can perform such actions in response topotential hazards or hazard types, including the following:

the hazard detection module 310 detects the potential hazard is avehicle moving towards the electric bicycle at a certain rate of speedabove a threshold rate of speed associated with a dangerous movement ofthe vehicle with respect to the electric bicycle (e.g., in any lightingcondition), and the action selection module 320 selects a safety actionthat alerts the rider to the movement of the vehicle towards theelectric bicycle at the certain rate of speed and a safety action thatcauses the electric bicycle to perform an auditory alarm in a directiontowards the vehicle;

the hazard detection module 310 detects the potential hazard is avehicle moving towards the electric bicycle at a certain rate of speedabove a threshold rate of speed associated with a dangerous movement ofthe vehicle with respect to the electric bicycle (e.g., the electricbicycle is traveling during the nighttime or during a low lightingcondition), and the action selection module 320 selects a safety actionthat alerts the rider to the movement of the vehicle towards theelectric bicycle at the certain rate of speed a safety action thatcauses the electric bicycle to emit safety illumination in a directiontowards the vehicle;

the hazard detection module 310 detects the potential hazard is avehicle moving towards the electric bicycle at a certain rate of speedabove a threshold rate of speed associated with a dangerous movement ofthe vehicle with respect to the electric bicycle, and action selectionmodule 320 selects a safety action that alerts the rider to the movementof the vehicle towards the electric bicycle at the certain rate of speedand a safety action that causes the electric bicycle to transmit awarning message to the vehicle; and so on.

Thus, the hazard detection module 310, in some embodiments, candetermine an object (e.g., a vehicle) moving towards the electricbicycle 200 as a potential hazard with a high or dangerous immediacy,and determine an object (e.g., the vehicle) moving parallel to theelectric bicycle 200 (next to the bicycle) as a potential hazard with alow or cautious immediacy. With either determination, the hazarddetection module 310 can classify the potential hazard and the immediacyand send the classification information to the action selection module,for action selection.

As an example, a vehicle can be classified as high risk (e.g., whereimpact is likely to cause harm to the rider of the bicycle), anotherbicycle or scooter can be classified as medium risk (e.g., where impactmay cause harm to the rider of the bicycle), and a congestion of objectsin the area of the bicycle (e.g., a busy road of bicycles and/orvehicles) can be classified as low risk (e.g., where dangerousconditions increase, but no single potential hazards). The actionselection module 320 can receive such classification information andselect actions that respond to the risk classification.

As described herein, the hazard detection module 310 identifies ordetermines potential hazards based on data captured by sensors on theelectric bicycle 200, such as sensors 245 and 250. For example, thesensors can include motion detection sensors that capture dataassociated with movement of objects within the environment, and thehazard detection module 310 can detect an occurrence of a potentialhazard when the captured data identifies an object moving towards theelectric bicycle or towards a path of travel of the electric bicycle.

As another example, the sensors can include image detection sensors thatidentify types of objects within the environment and hazard detectionmodule 310 detects an occurrence of a potential hazard when the captureddata identifies a certain type of object within a current path of travelof the electric bicycle.

As a further example, the sensors can include sound (e.g., ultrasound orultrasonic) detection sensors that capture data associated with movementof objects within the environment and the hazard detection module 310detects an occurrence of a potential hazard when the captured dataidentifies an object moving towards the electric bicycle or towards apath of travel of the electric bicycle (e.g., the sound of a vehicleapproaching the bicycle)

Further, the sensors can include motion detection sensors and imagedetection sensors (or other combination) and the hazard detection module310 detects an occurrence of a potential hazard when the captured dataidentifies a certain type of object moving towards a current path oftravel of the electric bicycle. Thus, in some cases the hazard detectionmodule 310 can detect an object moving towards the electric bicycle 200and/or moving towards a path or direction of travel on which the bicycleis moving.

The action selection module 320 selects different actions based on thepotential hazard and the immediacy of the hazard to the electric bicycle200. For example, the action selection module 320 selects a safetyaction that alerts the rider to the movement of a vehicle towards theelectric bicycle at a certain rate of speed via a display actionperformed by a user interface of the electric bicycle.

As another example, the action selection module 320 selects a safetyaction that alerts the rider to the movement of the vehicle towards theelectric bicycle at the certain rate of speed by presenting a vibrationalert to the rider of the electric bicycle via one or both handlebargrips of the electric bicycle (e.g., via integrated haptic sensors oractuators).

Further, the action selection module 320 can select a safety action thatalerts the rider to the movement of the vehicle towards the electricbicycle at the certain rate of speed by causing the electric motor toperform a regenerative braking action or other braking action that slowsthe electric bicycle.

As described herein, the action selection module 320 can selectcombinations of safety actions to ensure the rider of the electricbicycle 200 is aware of the potential hazard as well as to increase theawareness of the potential hazard (e.g., when the hazard is a vehicle orbicycle).

The rider safety system 300, as described herein, performs variousprocesses or method to mitigate and improve the safety of a rider on anelectric bicycle, such as the rider 105 on the electric bicycle 110within the environment 122. FIG. 4A is a flow diagram illustrating anexample method 400 for performing a safety action on behalf of a riderof an electric bicycle. The method 400 may be performed by the ridersafety system 300 and, accordingly, is described herein merely by way ofreference thereto. It will be appreciated that the method 400 may beperformed on any suitable hardware.

In operation 410, the rider safety system 300 captures information froman area within which the electric bicycle 110, 200 is traveling. Forexample, the hazard detection module 310 can receive data captured byone or more sensors of the electric bicycle 200 and from an environmentthrough which the electric bicycle is traveling.

In operation 420, the rider safety system 300 detects an occurrence of apotential hazard to the electric bicycle or to a rider of the electricbicycle. For example, the hazard detection module 310 can utilize sensordata captured by the sensors 245 (e.g., radar sensors, lidar sensors,ultrasonic sensors, LED sensors, GPS sensors, and so on) when detectingan object proximate to the electric bicycle and/or the movement of theobject proximate to the electric bicycle. As described herein, examplepotential hazards include vehicles, other bicycles, pedestrians, groundobjects, structures, and so on.

In operation 430, the rider safety system 300 detects an immediacy ofthe potential hazard to the electric bicycle or to the rider of theelectric bicycle. For example, the hazard detection module 310determines a timing or likelihood of impact or proximity based on amovement of the potential hazard and/or the electric bicycle and assignsan immediacy or imminence factor or metric to the potential hazard.

In operation 440, the rider safety system 300 selects a safety actionbased on the occurrence of the potential hazard and the immediacy of thepotential hazard. For example, the action selection module 320 selectsdifferent actions based on the potential hazard and the immediacy of thehazard to the electric bicycle 200, such as a safety action that alertsthe rider to the movement of a vehicle towards the electric bicycle atthe certain rate of speed via a display action performed by a userinterface of the electric bicycle and a safety action that sends amessage to the vehicle about the presence of the electric bicycle.

In operation 442, the rider safety system 300 causes the electricbicycle to perform an action alerting the rider of the electric bicycleof the potential hazard, and, in operation 445, causes the electricbicycle to perform an action alerting an entity associated with thepotential hazard (of a certain type of hazard) of the dangerouscondition. As described herein, the action module 330 can cause theelectric bicycle 200 to alert a rider of an incoming vehicle while alsosounding an alarm and modifying the lighting of the electric bicycle toincrease the visibility of the bicycle to the vehicle.

In some cases, the rider safety system 300 can identify and/or determinea context for the electric bicycle as it travels through theenvironment, and select safety actions, at least in part on thedetermined context. For example, the context could indicate the type ofroute (e.g., the bicycle is on a bike path versus a road), the currentor forecasted weather (e.g., it is cold/hot, raining, snowing, sleeting,and so on), the time of day (e.g., noon and sunny versus 9 pm and darkout), the rider knowledge of the route (e.g., the route has beentraveled by rider numerous times versus a new street/path to the rider),and so on.

Thus, in some embodiments, the rider safety system 300, being located orstored in memory of the controller 215 of the electric bicycle 200 canperform safety operations, such as detecting an occurrence of apotential hazard to the electric bicycle or to a rider of the electricbicycle based on data from an environment through which the electricbicycle is traveling that is captured by one or more sensors of theelectric bicycle, and selecting a safety action based on the occurrenceof the potential hazard. The safety actions can include a safety actionthat alerts the rider to the occurrence of the potential hazard to theelectric bicycle or to the rider of the electric bicycle and a safetyaction that causes the electric bicycle to an entity associated with thepotential hazard of the occurrence of the potential hazard.

As described herein, the system 300 can also detect an immediacy of thepotential hazard to the electric bicycle or to the rider of the electricbicycle and select the safety action based on the occurrence of thepotential hazard and the detected immediacy of the potential hazard tothe electric bicycle or to the rider of the electric bicycle.

For example, when the occurrence of the potential hazard is a vehiclemoving towards the electric bicycle within the environment, the safetyaction can alert the rider to the occurrence of the potential hazard tothe electric bicycle or to the rider of the electric bicycle bydisplaying a warning to the rider of the electric bicycle via a userinterface of the electric bicycle, and can cause the electric bicycle towarn the vehicle of the occurrence of the potential hazard by causingthe electric bicycle to emit safety illumination in a direction towardsthe approaching vehicle and performing an auditory alarm in a directiontowards the vehicle.

Examples of a Rider Alert System

As described herein, in some embodiments, the electric bicycle 110 canemploy the rider safety system 300 to alert the rider 105 of theelectric bicycle 110 of a potential hazard or unsafe condition during aride via haptic feedback or other physical stimulus actions. Forexample, the sensors 250 can include one or more haptic actuators thatpresent haptic feedback to the rider of the electric bicycle 200. Thehaptic actuators, or sensors, can be disposed or positioned at/in gripson the handlebars, on/in the seat of the bicycle 200, on the pedals ofthe bicycle 200, and so on.

In some cases, the sensors can be worn by the rider, and provide hapticfeedback via clothing or accessories worn by the rider. These body worndevices can include body worn displays, body worn acoustic devices, bodyworn haptics, or other body worn alert systems, which are wired orwirelessly connected to the bicycle systems, as described herein. Forexample, haptic gloves, haptic shoes, and/or haptic bracelets or watchescan present an alert to the rider of the electric bicycle 200.

Referring back to FIG. 3 , the rider safety system 300, via the actionselection module 320, can select an action based on a potential hazardthat is performed by the one or more haptic actuators of the electricbicycle. The action can include causing a haptic actuator to pulse orvibrate, to cause multiple haptic actuators or pulse or vibrate, and/orto cause a group of actuators to follow a vibration pattern that informsthe rider of the potential hazard.

For example, the system 300 can map haptic feedback actions to potentialhazards as shown in the following table:

TABLE 2 Potential hazard Haptic feedback action Vehicle approaching fromleft/right Vibrate left/right handlebar grip Vehicle moving into path oftravel Vibrate both handlebar grips Object is detected in path Twopulses via both handlebar grips Hole or contour in road surface Threepulses via both handlebar grips Vehicle approaching from behind Vibrateseat of bicycle Approaching intersection is Pulse handlebar grips inalternating “unsafe” pattern Area around bicycle is congested Vibratesmart watch worn by rider

Following the table, when the rider safety system 300 determines avehicle is approaching from a right side of the electric bicycle, thesystem 300 selects an action to vibrate a right-side handlebar grip toalert the rider of the vehicle; similarly, when the system 300determines the bicycle is approaching an unsafe or dangerousintersection in a city (e.g., based on fleet managed data), the system300 selects an action to pulse the handlebar grips in an alternatingsequence or patterns, to inform the rider to be cautious as they movethrough the intersection.

In some cases, the rider safety system 300 maintains the haptic feedbackuntil receiving an acknowledgement from the rider, such as via a changein operation of the electric bicycle (e.g., the rider brakes or adjuststheir path of travel). For example, the system 300 can monitoroperations of the electric bicycle 200 after the action module 330caused the electric bicycle to perform a safety action in response to adetected potential hazard, determine that the electric bicycle has notperformed a hazard mitigation operation (e.g., braking, slowing, oraltering course), and perform the selected safety action again.

Similarly, the system 300 can determine that the electric bicycle hasperformed a hazard mitigation operation (e.g., a braking or turningoperation detected by the sensors 250) and cause the electric bicycle tostop performance of the selected safety action in response to therider's actions.

Thus, the system 300 can utilize different haptic feedback actions orpatterns to warn riders of imminent and predicted hazards or dangerousconditions, such as the occurrence of a potential collision with avehicle with the electric bicycle or the occurrence of an object withina path traveled by the bicycle.

As described herein, the system 300 can also utilize haptic feedback towarn a rider of a general or increasing dangerous condition within anenvironment through which an electric bicycle is traveling. For example,the haptic feedback can indicate a dangerous movement pattern ofmultiple vehicles within an immediate proximity of the electric bicycleor a dangerous location pattern of multiple vehicles within an immediateproximity of the electric bicycle (e.g., more vehicles than average onthe road shared by the electric bicycle). The system 300 can receive thepotential hazard information from the sensors of the bicycle 245 and/orfrom the fleet management server 140 that manages a fleet of electricbicycles that includes the electric bicycle (e.g., tracking datareceived from electric bicycle over time).

The system 300, therefore, performs various processes and methods foralerting riders to potential hazards and dangerous conditions. FIG. 4B aflow diagram illustrating an example method 450 for selecting a hapticfeedback sequence to perform for a rider of an electric bicycle. Themethod 450 may be performed by the rider safety system 300 and,accordingly, is described herein merely by way of reference thereto. Itwill be appreciated that the method 450 may be performed on any suitablehardware.

In operation 460, the rider safety system 300 determines an action toperform in response to a potential hazard or detected dangerouscondition includes the presentation of haptic feedback to a rider of anelectric bicycle. For example, the action selection module 320 candetermine a risk or imminence of a potential hazard and select an actionthat includes haptic feedback.

In operation 470, the rider safety system 300 selects a haptic feedbackpattern to present to the rider of the electric bicycle. For example,the action selection module 320 can utilize the information in Table 2that relates potential hazards to haptic feedback actions when selectingthe feedback pattern to present to the rider.

In operation 480, the rider safety system 300 causes haptic actuators ofthe electric bicycle to alert the rider via the selected haptic feedbackpattern. For example, the action module 330 can cause various hapticdevices, such as actuators positioned at/in grips on the handlebars,on/in the seat of the bicycle 200, and/or on the pedals of the bicycle200, to present the haptic feedback patterns to the rider.

In operation 490, the rider safety system 300 can determine whether therider modified their behavior in response to the alert. For example, thesystem 300 can monitor operations of the electric bicycle afterperforming the selected safety action, determine that the electricbicycle has not performed a hazard mitigation operation in response tothe performance of the selected safety action, and, returning tooperation 480, cause the electric bicycle to re-perform the selectedsafety action.

In some cases, the system 300 can attempt to alert the rider usingdifferent patterns, depending on the hazard and/or immediacy of danger.For example, the system 300 can determine that the electric bicycle hasnot performed a hazard mitigation operation (e.g., turning, slowing,braking) in response to the performance or re-performance of theselected safety action, and cause the electric bicycle to perform adifferent safety action in response to the determination that theelectric bicycle has not performed the operation.

Thus, the rider safety system 300 can proactively warn riders of hazardsor dangerous conditions, as well as encourage or prompt riders to takeactions for their safety, via the presentation of haptic feedback to theriders. For example, the rider safety system 300, being located withinthe controller 215 of the electric bicycle 200, can detect an occurrenceof a potential hazard to the electric bicycle or to a rider of theelectric bicycle, select a safety action that includes presenting hapticfeedback to a rider of the electric bicycle, and cause the electricbicycle to perform the selected safety action in response to thedetected potential hazard. The system 300 can determine that the riderof the electric bicycle has performed a turning operation, slowingoperation and/or a braking operation in response to the selected safetyaction and cause the electric bicycle to stop performance of theselected safety action in response to the turning operation, slowingoperation, or the braking operation.

Examples of an Object Detection System

As described herein, in some embodiments, the electric bicycle 110includes technology that monitors an environment for objects orconditions specifically hazardous to a moving bicycle and performsactions to mitigate the danger that can arise due to these objects orconditions.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating components of an object detectionsystem 500. The components and/or modules of the object detection system500 (which can be supported or included by the safety system 130 and/orthe fleet management server 140) can be implemented with a combinationof software (e.g., executable instructions, or computer code) andhardware (e.g., at least a memory and processor). Accordingly, as usedherein, in some example embodiments, a component/module is aprocessor-implemented component/module and represents a computing devicehaving a processor that is at least temporarily configured and/orprogrammed by executable instructions stored in memory to perform one ormore of the functions that are described herein. The object detectionsystem 500 includes an object detection module 510, an action selectionmodule 520, and an action module 530.

In some embodiments, the object detection module 510 is configuredand/or programmed to receive or access data captured by one or moresensors of the electric bicycle and from an environment through whichthe electric bicycle is traveling. The object detection module 510determines an identification of an object within the environment throughwhich the electric bicycle is traveling and a location of the objectwithin the environment through which the electric bicycle is traveling.

For example, the object detection module 510 receives image datacaptured by an image detection sensor and determines that the object isan open car door (or car pulling out) within a path traveled by theelectric bicycle. The image sensor, which captures images of theenvironment, can capture an image of a shape similar to a car door, andthe module 510 can determine the shape is a car door (or, potentially acar door) within the path of travel of the electric bicycle.

As another example, the object detection module receives image datacaptured by an image detection sensor and determines that the object isa pothole or other hazard/obstacle in a road traveled by the electricbicycle (e.g., a curb or raised structure). The image sensor, whichcaptures images of the environment, can capture images of the road andthe module 510 can determine the shape is constantly changing orincludes uncommon objects or imperfections.

In some cases, the object detection system 500 can utilize contextinformation when identifying objects within a path of travel of theelectric bicycle. For example, the object detection module 510 candetermine a safety context within the environment through which theelectric bicycle is traveling and identify an object within theenvironment through which the electric bicycle is traveling based on thedetermined safety context.

The safety context can include various types of information associatedwith the surface of travel, the type of route (e.g., path, road, street,and so on), the weather or lighting conditions, and so on. For example,the module 510 can access information (e.g., map information) about aroute traveled by the bicycle that identifies cars are parked along theroute and/or utilize sensor captured information to infer cars areparked along the route.

Using the information, the module 510 can capture an image (or images)of an object in front of the electric bicycle and moving towards thebicycle (based on the point of view of the bicycle, which is in factmoving), and detect the object as an open car door within the path oftravel of the bicycle.

In some embodiments, the action selection module 520 is configuredand/or programmed to select a safety action based on the identificationof the object and the location of the object within the environmentthrough which the electric bicycle is traveling. For example, similar tothe action selection module 320, the module 520 can select an actionthat alerts the rider 105 of the electric bicycle 110, 200, such as analert presented to a rider of the electric bicycle via a user interfaceof the electric bicycle and/or via haptic feedback presented to therider via grips of handlebars of the electric bicycle.

In addition, the selected action can modify operation of the electricbicycle to increase the safety of the rider, such as to slow down theelectric bicycle and/or enhance the vision of the rider within theenvironment through which the electric bicycle is traveling. Forexample, the module 520 can select an action that modifies operation ofthe electric bicycle, such as by modifying the illumination emitted by ahead lamp or other lighting devices of the electric bicycle.

In some embodiments, the action module 530 is configured and/orprogrammed to cause the electric bicycle to perform the selected safetyaction in response to the identification of the object. For example,like the action module 330, the module 530 can cause various lightingdevices (e.g., head lamp 260) to modify operations (e.g., increaseintensity) and/or cause the bicycle to alert the rider of the object ordangerous condition in the path of travel.

The object detection system 500, as described herein, includes processesand methods that detect objects specifically hazardous to an electricbicycle (e.g., car doors, road divots, ice patches, and so on), andperform actions to mitigate the potentially hazardous objects.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method 600 forperforming an action for a rider of an electric bicycle in response todetecting a hazardous object. The method 600 may be performed by theobject detection system 500 and, accordingly, is described herein merelyby way of reference thereto. It will be appreciated that the method 600may be performed on any suitable hardware.

In operation 610, the object detection system 500 receives data capturedby one or more sensors of the electric bicycle and from an environmentthrough which the electric bicycle is traveling, and identifies, fromthe data captured by the one or more sensors, an object within theenvironment through which the electric bicycle is traveling. Inoperation 620, the system 500 determines a location of the object withinthe environment.

For example, the object detection module 510 receives image datacaptured by an image detection sensor and determines that the object isan open car door within a path traveled by the electric bicycle. Theimage sensor, which captures images of the environment, can capture animage of a shape of a car door, and the module 510 can determine theshape is a car door (or, potentially a car door) within the path oftravel of the electric bicycle.

In operation 630, the object detection system 500 selects a safetyaction based on the identification of the object and the location of theobject within the environment through which the electric bicycle istraveling. For example, the action selection module 520 can select anaction that alerts the rider 105 of the electric bicycle 110, 200, suchas an alert presented to a rider of the electric bicycle via a userinterface of the electric bicycle and/or via haptic feedback presentedto the rider via grips of handlebars of the electric bicycle.

In operation 640, the object detection system 500 causes the electricbicycle to perform the selected safety action in response to theidentification of the object. For example, the action module 530 cancause various lighting devices (e.g., head lamp 260) to modifyoperations (e.g., increase intensity, shape, and direction of lightbeam) and/or cause the bicycle to alert the rider of the object ordangerous condition in the path of travel.

As described herein, the system 500 can utilize context information,such as a ride context for a path traveled by the electric bicycle, whendetermining objects are potentially hazardous and performing actions inresponse to the objects. For example, the object detection system 500,which can be stored in memory of the 215 controller of the electricbicycle 200, can receive data captured by one or more sensors and froman environment through which the electric bicycle is traveling, anddetermine a ride context for the electric bicycle 200 while travelingthrough the environment.

The object detection system 500 can then identify an object within theenvironment through which the electric bicycle is traveling based on thedata captured by the one or more sensors and from the determined ridecontext, select a safety action based on the identification of theobject, and cause the electric bicycle to perform the selected safetyaction in response to the identification of the object.

In some cases, the system 500 can utilize artificial intelligence (AI)and machine learning (ML) algorithms to assist in learning what inputsrepresent certain objects. For example, the system 500 can utilize AI/MLto increase the accuracy of predicting an object captured by an image oroptical sensor is an open car door (e.g., the AL identifies or learns apattern of an opened door in the images).

In some cases, the system 500 determines a ride context where thebicycle is traveling proximate to multiple cars parked along a road(e.g., via image sensors or other sensors 245) and identifies the objectas an open car door based on the data captured by the one or moresensors indicating an object is located within the road traveled by theelectric bicycle.

In some cases, the system 500 determines a ride context where thebicycle is traveling through the environment on a bumpy road (e.g., viaIMUs or other sensors 250 and identifies the object as a pothole withinthe bumpy road based on the data captured by the one or more sensorsindicating the object is located on the road traveled by the electricbicycle.

The object detection system 500, as described herein, can enhance thesafety of a rider of an electric bicycle in a variety of scenarios.FIGS. 7A-7D depict the system 500 operating within these scenarios.

FIG. 7A depicts a scenario 700 where an electric bicycle 705 istraveling along a road 715 on a cold night and has its head lamp 710 onand emitting light 712 to illuminate the area in front of the bicycle705. The object detection system 500, located in a controller of thebicycle 705, captures images of the road 715 and identifies apotentially hazardous object 717 within the road 715. The system 500detects the object 717 (e.g., a patch of ice) as being in a location onthe road 715 that is in the path of travel of the bicycle 705 andperforms a safety action to modify the shape of light emitted by thehead lamp 710 to a lower shape 714 that illuminates the road 715, and,when encountered, the hazardous object. Thus, the system 500 identifiesa potential hazard specific to the electric bicycle 705 during a rideand causes the bicycle 705 to automatically modify operation (e.g.,adjust its lighting) to create a safer ride for the rider of the bicycle705.

FIG. 7B depicts a scenario 720 where the electric bicycle 705 istraveling along a street 725 in a busy part of a city. The objectdetection system 500, located in the controller of the bicycle 705,captures images of the street 725 (and the area surrounding the bicycle705) and identifies a series of parked cars 730 alongside the street725. The system also captures information identifying a potentiallyhazardous object 732 within the road 725, such as via a motion detectorthat emits a beam 740 to detect objects in the street 725. The system500 detects the object 732 (e.g., an open car door) as being in alocation on the street 725 that is in the path of travel of the bicycle705 and performs a series of safety actions.

The safety actions can include: an action to alert 747 the rider, via auser interface of the bicycle, to move away from the cars 730, an actionthat vibrates 745 the left grip of the bicycle to alert the rider tomove away from the cars 730, and/or an action to vibrate the brake 749to alert the rider to slow down before reaching the open car door. Thus,the system 500 identifies a potential hazard specific to the electricbicycle 725 during a ride and causes the bicycle 705 to alert the riderto create a safer ride for the rider of the bicycle 705.

FIG. 7C depicts a scenario 750 where the electric bicycle 705 istraveling along the street 725 and the car 730 approaches from behindthe electric bicycle 705. The object detection system 500, located inthe controller of the bicycle 705, captures information identifying apotentially hazardous object, the car 730, approaching behind theelectric bicycle 725, such as via a motion detector that emits a beam752 to detect objects in the street 725. The system 500 detects the car730 as being close to the bicycle 725 (e.g., within a certain thresholddistance) and performs a series of safety actions in response to theapproaching car 730.

The safety actions can include: an action to alert 757 the rider, via auser interface of the bicycle, of the approaching car 730 (e.g., show analert and/or presents images of the rear of the bicycle using a rearmounted camera), and/or an action that vibrates 755 the left and rightgrip of the bicycle to alert the rider of the approaching car 730. Thus,the system 500 identifies a potential hazard specific to the electricbicycle 725 during a ride and causes the bicycle 705 to alert the riderto create a safer ride for the rider of the bicycle 705.

FIG. 7D depicts a scenario 760 combines the scenarios depicted in FIGS.7B and 7C, where the electric bicycle 705 is traveling along the street725 and the car 730 approaches from behind the electric bicycle 705while other cars are parked along the road 725. The system 500 detectsthe object 732 (e.g., an open car door) as being in a location on thestreet 725 that is in the path of travel of the bicycle 705 and performsa series of safety actions. However, the system 500 also detects the car730 as being close to the rear of the bicycle 725 (e.g., within acertain threshold distance) and performs a series of safety actions inresponse to the approaching car 730 and the open door 732.

The safety actions can include: an action to alert 765 the rider of adangerous situation, via a user interface of the bicycle, of theapproaching car 730, and/or an action that vibrates 755 the left andright grip of the bicycle to alert the rider of the approaching car 730.For example, the action 765 informs the rider to move to the left toavoid the car door 732, but includes an indication of caution (e.g., ared arrow) when the rider changes course, because the car 730 is behindthe bicycle 705. Thus, the system 500 identifies a combination ofpotential hazards specific to the electric bicycle 725 during a ride andcauses the bicycle 705 to alert the rider of the dangerous situation tocreate a safer ride for the rider of the bicycle 705.

Of course, the system 500 can be implemented to mitigate other dangeroussituations and/or potential hazards, as described herein.

Examples of a Bicycle Visibility System

As described herein, in some embodiments, the electric bicycle 110includes technology that enhances or increases the visibility of thebicycle 110 in response to detected potential hazards or unsafeconditions at an environment within which the bicycle is traveling.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating components of a bicyclevisibility system 800. The components and/or modules of the bicyclevisibility system 800 (which can be supported or included by the safetysystem 130 and/or the fleet management server 140) can be implementedwith a combination of software (e.g., executable instructions, orcomputer code) and hardware (e.g., at least a memory and processor).Accordingly, as used herein, in some example embodiments, acomponent/module is a processor-implemented component/module andrepresents a computing device having a processor that is at leasttemporarily configured and/or programmed by executable instructionsstored in memory to perform one or more of the functions that aredescribed herein. The bicycle visibility system 800 includes a hazarddetection module 810, a device selection module 820, and an actionmodule 830.

In some embodiments, the hazard detection module 810 is configuredand/or programmed to receive or access data captured by various sensorsfrom an environment through which the electric bicycle is traveling.Further, the module 810 detects an occurrence of a potential hazard tothe electric bicycle or to a rider of the electric bicycle, and acontext associated with the occurrence of the potential hazard.

For example, like the rider safety system 300 described herein, thehazard detection module 810 can utilize sensor data from the sensors 245to detect a potential hazard or unsafe condition for the electricbicycle, such as the electric bicycle 110, 200. The hazards can includevehicles, other bicycles or micro-mobility vehicles, pedestrians, and soon.

The hazard detection module 810 also determines or identifies a contextwithin which the electric bicycle is traveling, such as via datacaptured by the sensors 245, 250 and/or from information received fromvarious remote servers, such as the fleet management server 140.

For example, the hazard detection module 810 receives data captured byone or more visibility sensors (e.g., current level of light or howclear the area is) and determines a visibility context associated withthe occurrence of the potential hazard. The visibility context canidentify a level of visibility for a rider of the electric bicycle, suchas a low level, medium level, or high level of visibility.

As another example, the hazard detection module 810 receives datacaptured by one or more motion sensors (e.g., number of objects in area)and determines a vehicle hazard context associated with the occurrenceof the potential hazard. The vehicle hazard context can identify anumber of vehicles proximate to the electric bicycle, such as a lownumber of vehicles, a normal number of vehicles, or a high level ofvehicles (traffic on the road).

Further, the hazard detection module 810 can receive data captured byone or more location sensors (e.g., GPS sensors) and determine alocation safety context associated with the occurrence of the potentialhazard. The location safety context can identify a safety factor ordanger factor for the location within which the electric bicycle istraveling, such as a factor that identifies how dangerous the locationis or is predicted to be based on historical levels or hazard events forthe location.

Also, the hazard detection module 810 can receive data captured by oneor more light sensors (e.g., which measure the light around the bicycle)and determine an environmental lighting context associated with theoccurrence of the potential hazard. The environmental lighting contextcan indicate a current ambient light for a location, such as how brightor dark is the environment that surrounds the electric bicycle.

In some embodiments, the device selection module 820 is configuredand/or programmed to select one or more safety devices based on theoccurrence of the potential hazard and the context of the occurrence ofthe potential hazard. For example, the device selection module 820 canselect a variety of different lighting devices (e.g., any or all ofdevices 260-277).

Further, depending on the determined context, the device selectionmodule 820 can select non-visual or non-lighting visibility devices,such as an audio safety device that outputs an auditory alarm in adirection of the potential hazard and/or a notification device thattransmits a message indicating a presence of the electric bicycle to acomputing device associated with a hazard (e.g., a vehicle, anautonomous vehicle, or other bicycle).

In some embodiments, the action module 830 is configured and/orprogrammed to cause the electric bicycle to perform a visibility actionfor the electric bicycle using the selected one or more safety devices.For example, like the action modules 330, 530 described herein, theaction module 830 performs actions to increase and/or enhance thevisibility of the electric bicycle.

Some example actions include adjusting an angle of illumination forlight emitted by the head lamp 260 of the electric bicycle, dynamicallyadjusting a shape of light emitted by the head lamp 260 of the electricbicycle (e.g., changing the shape and/or size of the emitted light),such as within an area between the electric bicycle and the potentialhazard.

Other example actions include causing the multiple rear lighting devices265, 267 of the electric bicycle to emit a dynamically changing patternof light in three-dimensional space behind the electric bicycle, causingthe lighting devices on a side of the frame of the electric bicycle(e.g., device 272 or 262) to generate a three-dimensional shape visiblein an area between the electric bicycle and the potential hazard, and soon. For example, presenting light via various devices in 3D space (e.g.,rear lights, side lights, helmet light) can cause an appearance of a 3Dimage and alert the hazard of the presence of the bicycle.

The following examples illustrate how visibility actions can increase,enhance, or otherwise modify the visibility of the bicycle:

When the selected safety devices include some or all of the multiplelighting devices 260-277 mounted to the frame of the electric bicycle,and when the multiple lighting devices include the head lamp 260 thatemits light having a first shape associated with a normal operation ofthe electric bicycle, and a second shape associated with a safetyoperation of the electric bicycle, the action module 830 causes theelectric bicycle to perform the visibility action by causing the headlamp to emit light having the second shape associated with a safetyoperation of the electric bicycle.

When the selected safety devices include the multiple lighting devices260-277 mounted to the frame of the electric bicycle, and when themultiple lighting devices include the head lamp 260 that emits light ina forward direction and lights 262 mounted to an end of handlebars ofthe electric bicycle, the action module 830 causes the electric bicycleto perform the visibility action by causing the headlamp 260 to emitlight in the forward direction and causing the light 262 mounted to theend of handlebars of the electric bicycle to emit light to a sidedirection away from the electric bicycle.

When the selected safety devices include the multiple lighting devices260-377 mounted to the frame of the electric bicycle, and when themultiple lighting devices include a downlighting system (e.g., device270 and/or 272) that illuminates a surface under which the electricbicycle is traveling, the action module 830 causes the electric bicycleto perform the visibility action by causing the downlighting system tomodify a shape of illumination of the surface under which the electricbicycle is traveling.

As described herein, the bicycle visibility system 800 performs variousprocesses and methods to increase the safety of a rider of an electricbicycle by enhancing the visibility of the electric bicycle in responseto detected potential hazards or unsafe conditions around the bicycle.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method 900 forenhancing the visibility of an electric bicycle. The method 900 may beperformed by the bicycle visibility system 800 and, accordingly, isdescribed herein merely by way of reference thereto. It will beappreciated that the method 900 may be performed on any suitablehardware.

In operation 910, the bicycle visibility system 800 receives or accessesdata captured by one or more sensors and from an environment throughwhich the electric bicycle is traveling and detects an occurrence of apotential hazard to the electric bicycle or to a rider of the electricbicycle. For example, like the rider safety system 300 described herein,the hazard detection module 810 can utilize sensor data from the sensors245 to detect a potential hazard or unsafe condition for the electricbicycle, such as the electric bicycle 110, 200. The hazards can includevehicles, other bicycles or micro-mobility vehicles, pedestrians, and soon.

In operation 920, the bicycle visibility system 800 determines a contextassociated with a path traveled by the electric bicycle (e.g., a currentor predicted ride for the bicycle). For example, the hazard detectionmodule 810 determines or identifies a context within which the electricbicycle is traveling, such as via data captured by the sensors 245, 250and/or from information received from various remote servers, such asthe fleet management server 140.

In operation 930, the bicycle visibility system 800 selects one or moresafety devices based on the occurrence of the potential hazard and thedetermined context of the path traveled by the electric bicycle and/orselects a visibility action to perform based on the potential hazard andthe determined context. For example, the device selection module 820 canselect a variety of different lighting devices (e.g., any or all ofdevices 260-277), as well as non-visual or non-lighting visibilitydevices, such as an audio safety device that outputs an auditory alarmin a direction of the potential hazard and/or a notification device thattransmits a message indicating a presence of the electric bicycle to acomputing device associated with a hazard (e.g., a vehicle or otherbicycle).

In operation 940, the bicycle visibility system 800 causes the electricbicycle to perform a visibility action for the electric bicycle usingthe selected one or more safety devices. For example, the action module830 performs actions to increase and/or enhance the visibility of theelectric bicycle. As described herein, some example actions includeadjusting an angle of illumination for light emitted by the head lamp260 of the electric bicycle, dynamically adjusting a shape of lightemitted by the head lamp 260 of the electric bicycle (e.g., changing theshape and/or size of the emitted light), such as within an area betweenthe electric bicycle and the potential hazard.

The bicycle visibility system 800, as described herein, can enhance thevisibility of a rider of an electric bicycle in a variety of scenarios.FIGS. 10A-10D depict the system 800 operating within these scenarios.

FIG. 10A depicts a scenario 1000 where an electric bicycle 1005 istraveling along a road 1010 next to a vehicle 1015 at night. The system800, via the hazard detection module 810, determines an occurrence of apotential hazard to the electric bicycle 1005 or to the rider of theelectric bicycle as the vehicle 1015 traveling next to the electricbicycle 1005 (e.g., based on data received from a motion capture sensor1007). The system 800, via the action module 830, causes the electricbicycle to perform a visibility action that causes a head lamp of theelectric bicycle to adjust a shape of illumination 1020 to becomevisible in an area 1022 between the electric bicycle 1005 and thevehicle 1015.

FIG. 10B depicts a scenario 1030 where an electric bicycle 1005 istraveling along the road 1010 next to the vehicle 1015 at night. Thesystem 800, via the hazard detection module 810, determines anoccurrence of a potential hazard to the electric bicycle 1005 or to therider of the electric bicycle as the vehicle 1015 traveling towards theelectric bicycle 1005 (e.g., based on data received from a motioncapture sensor 1007). The system 800, via the action module 830, causesthe electric bicycle to perform a visibility action that causesdownlighting devices of the electric bicycle to create a light envelope1035 around the bicycle, in addition to the illumination 1020 emitted bythe head lamp. The shape of the light envelope 1035 can dynamicallychange or move to alert a driver of the vehicle, such as by moving intoan area between the electric bicycle 1005 and the vehicle 1015 and/orimpinging on the movement of the vehicle 1015.

FIG. 10C depicts a scenario 1040 where an electric bicycle 1005 istraveling along the road 1010 next to the vehicle 1015 at night. Thesystem 800, via the hazard detection module 810, determines anoccurrence of a potential hazard to the electric bicycle 1005 or to therider of the electric bicycle as the vehicle 1015 turning into the pathof the electric bicycle 1005 (e.g., based on data received from a motioncapture sensor 1007). The system 800, via the action module 830, causesthe electric bicycle to perform a visibility action that causes sidelighting devices to create a three-dimensional shape of light 1045(e.g., via a laser projection or multiple lighting devices) that isvisible in an area between the electric bicycle 1005 and the vehicle1015.

For example, when riding in mist or fog, the light 1045 can illuminate a3D area next to the electric bicycle 1005. The 3D light image canfacilitate a driver of the vehicle 1015 seeing the electric bicycle 1005before a collision. Thus, the bicycle 1005 can, in some cases, determinea context of travel (e.g., mist, fog, and so on), and adapt the actionmodule 830 to present a certain type of illumination suitable for thecontext of travel.

FIG. 10D depicts a scenario 1050 where an electric bicycle 1005 istraveling along the road 1010 next to the vehicle 1015 during the day orduring high visibility conditions. The system 800, via the hazarddetection module 810, determines an occurrence of a potential hazard tothe electric bicycle 1005 or to the rider of the electric bicycle as thevehicle 1015 traveling next to the electric bicycle 1005 (e.g., based ondata received from a motion capture sensor 1007). The system 800, viathe action module 830, causes the electric bicycle to perform avisibility action that causes a communication device of the electricbicycle 1005 to send a message 1055 (e.g., over Bluetooth or anothermessaging channel) to the vehicle 1015 that a bicycle is close by,alerting a driver of the vehicle 1015 to the presence of the bicycle.

Of course, the system 800 can be employed in other scenarios, such aswhen vehicle traveling towards the electric bicycle from a locationbehind the bicycle, where the action module 830 causes the electricbicycle to perform a visibility action that causes multiple rearlighting devices of the electric bicycle to dynamically perform athree-dimensional pattern of illumination, among other actions.

Further, the system 800, or other systems described herein, can sendmessages to vehicles as well as infrastructure, in response to thedetection of potential hazards. Such messages can alert the hazards ofthe presence of the bicycle to one or many vehicles at a location orroute, but can also notify certain entities (e.g., city or municipalentities) of the detected hazards.

Thus, as described herein, the bicycle visibility system 800 can performvarious operations to increase and/or enhance the visibility of theelectric bicycle in dangerous or predicted dangerous conditions. Forexample, the system 800, stored in memory of the controller 215 of theelectric bicycle 200, can detect a potential hazard proximate to theelectric bicycle, determine a context associated with a path traveled bythe electric bicycle, select one or more lighting devices based on thepotential hazard and the determined context of the path traveled by theelectric bicycle, and cause the electric bicycle to perform a visibilityaction for the electric bicycle using the selected one or more lightingdevices.

Examples of an Automatic Lighting System

As described herein, in some embodiments, the electric bicycle 110automatically modifies lighting operations in response to a ride contextfor a bike ride and/or bike actions performed by the electric bicycle110.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating components of an automaticlighting system 1100. The components and/or modules of the automaticlighting system 1100 (which can be supported or included by the safetysystem 130 and/or the fleet management server 140) can be implementedwith a combination of software (e.g., executable instructions, orcomputer code) and hardware (e.g., at least a memory and processor).Accordingly, as used herein, in some example embodiments, acomponent/module is a processor-implemented component/module andrepresents a computing device having a processor that is at leasttemporarily configured and/or programmed by executable instructionsstored in memory to perform one or more of the functions that aredescribed herein. The automatic lighting system 1100 includes a bicyclecontext module 1110, a bicycle action module 1120, and a lighting module1130.

In some embodiments, the bicycle context module 1110 is configuredand/or programmed to determine a ride context associated with anenvironment through which the electric bicycle is traveling. Forexample, the bicycle context module 1110 can receive informationcollected or captured by data from the environment associated with acurrent visibility for a rider of the electric bicycle and/or associatedwith a current number of vehicles sharing a road with the electricbicycle, among other types of information.

In some embodiments, the bicycle action module 1120 is configured and/orprogrammed to determine a current bicycle action is being performed bythe electric bicycle. For example, current bicycle actions can include aturning of the bicycle, an acceleration of the bicycle, a braking of thebicycle, and so on.

In some embodiments, the lighting module 1130 is configured and/orprogrammed to select one or more lighting devices based on the ridecontext of the environment through which the electric bicycle istraveling and/or based on the current bicycle action being performed bythe electric bicycle. Further, the lighting module 1130 causes theelectric bicycle to perform a lighting action for the electric bicycleusing the selected one or more lighting devices that is based on theride context associated with the environment through which the electricbicycle is traveling and/or based on the current bicycle action.

For example, the lighting module 1130 causes the electric bicycle toautomatically perform an action that increases illumination emitted bythe one or more lighting devices in a forward direction in response to abicycle context indicating low visibility around the bicycle.

As another example, the lighting module 1130 causes the electric bicycleto perform an action that increases illumination emitted by the one ormore lighting devices in a side direction around the electric bicycle(e.g., devices 267, 262, 272, 277) in response to a ride contextindicating a congested or heavy trafficked road upon which the bicycleis traveling.

Further, the automatic lighting system 1100 can automatically modifyoperations for an area or environment to which a bicycle is travelingbut has not yet entered. For example, the bicycle context module 1110can determine an unsafe ride context for the environment through whichthe electric bicycle is traveling or is going to travel based oninformation received from another electric bicycle that has previouslytraveled through the environment (e.g., information tracked and obtainedfrom the fleet management server 140). Using this context information,the lighting module 1130 causes the electric bicycle to perform anaction that increases intensity of a lighting envelope emitted aroundthe electric bicycle in response to the determined unsafe ride context.

Thus, in some cases, the bicycle context module 1110 can determine anunsafe location context for the environment through which the electricbicycle is traveling by communicating with the fleet management server140. For example, the module transmits location information for theenvironment to the fleet management server 140, which manages a fleet ofelectric bicycles that includes the electric bicycle, and receives, fromthe fleet management server 140, an indication that the environment iscurrently an unsafe location for bicycles. Using the received contextinformation, the lighting module 1130 causes the electric bicycle toperform a visibility action in response to the determined unsafelocation context for the environment.

The automatic lighting system 1100 can also automatically modify and/oradapt the lighting of the electric bicycle (e.g., the electric bicycle200) based on a type of path or road traveled by the bicycle. Forexample, the bicycle context module 1110 determines the environmentthrough which the electric bicycle is traveling includes a bicycle pathand the lighting module causes 1130 causes the electric bicycle toperform an action that adjusts illumination emitted from the one or morelighting devices to a path mode of illumination. A path mode ofillumination can include lighting that is focused on or directed toilluminating the path and not focused on making the bicycle visible inall directions, because a bicycle path is often separated from vehiclesand other hazards.

In contrast and as another example, the bicycle context module 1110determines the environment through which the electric bicycle istraveling includes a street and the lighting module 1130 causes theelectric bicycle to perform an action that adjusts illumination emittedfrom the one or more lighting devices to a street mode of illumination.A street mode of illumination can include lighting that is focused onmaking the bicycle visible to other vehicles or pedestrians, because thestreet is often shared with other vehicles but may provide lighting thatassist the bicycle in seeing the environment when riding along thestreet.

In some cases, the context can change, and the automatic lighting system1100 can adapt a current mode of operation to a different mode ofoperation. For example, the bicycle context module 1110 determines at alater time that the ride context for the environment through which theelectric bicycle is traveling has changed, and the lighting module 1130causes the electric bicycle to perform a different lighting action forthe electric bicycle using the selected one or more lighting devicesbased on the changed ride context associated with the environmentthrough which the electric bicycle is traveling.

As described herein, the automatic lighting system 1100 performs variousprocesses and methods to automatically adjust lighting for an electricbicycle based on a context surrounding the electric bicycle.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 1200 for adjusting thelighting of an electric bicycle based on a current mode of travel of theelectric bicycle. The method 1200 may be performed by the automaticlighting system 1100 and, accordingly, is described herein merely by wayof reference thereto. It will be appreciated that the method 1200 may beperformed on any suitable hardware.

In operation 1210, the automatic lighting system 1100 receives oraccesses information identifying a context of a bicycle ride currentlytraveled by an electric bicycle. For example, the bicycle context module1110 can receive information collected or captured by data from theenvironment associated with a current visibility for a rider of theelectric bicycle and/or associated with a current number of vehiclessharing a road with the electric bicycle, among other types ofinformation.

In operation 1220, the automatic lighting system 1100 selects lightingdevices associated with the identified context. For example, thelighting module 1130 can select a head lamp when the context indicates alow visibility surrounding the bicycle ride and select a downlightingsystem when the context indicates a crowded road of vehicles surroundingthe electric bicycle on the bicycle ride.

In operation 1230, the automatic lighting system 1100 modifies thecurrent lighting via the selected lighting devices based on theidentified context. For example, the lighting module 1130 causes theelectric bicycle to automatically perform an action that increasesillumination emitted by the one or more lighting devices in a forwarddirection in response to a bicycle context indicating low visibilityaround the bicycle.

As another example, the lighting module 1130 causes the electric bicycleto perform an action that increases illumination emitted by the one ormore lighting devices in a side direction around the electric bicycle(e.g., devices 267, 262, 272, 277) in response to a ride contextindicating a congested or heavy trafficked road upon which the bicycleis traveling.

As described herein, the automatic lighting system 1100 also performsvarious processes and methods to automatically adjust lighting for anelectric bicycle based on bicycle actions performed (or predicted to beperformed) by the electric bicycle.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method 1300 foradjusting the lighting of an electric bicycle based on a current actionperformed by the electric bicycle. The method 1300 may be performed bythe automatic lighting system 1100 and, accordingly, is described hereinmerely by way of reference thereto. It will be appreciated that themethod 1300 may be performed on any suitable hardware.

In operation 1310, the automatic lighting system 1100 receivesinformation identifying a current action performed by an electricbicycle and/or determines a current bicycle action is being performed bythe electric bicycle. For example, the current actions can includeturning actions, acceleration actions, braking actions, and so on.

In operation 1320, the automatic lighting system 1100 selects lightingdevices associated with the current bicycle action. For example, thelighting module 1130 can select a head lamp and grip lights when thebicycle is performing a turning action and select a downlighting systemwhen the bicycle is performing a regenerative braking action.

In operation 1330, the automatic lighting system 1100 causes theelectric bicycle to perform a lighting action for the electric bicycleusing one or more lighting devices of the electric bicycle that is basedon the current bicycle action being performed by the electric bicycle.For example, the lighting module 1130 can modify a shape of illuminationemitted by the one or more lighting devices in response to theperformance of the current bicycle action, can modify an angle ofillumination emitted by the one or more lighting devices in response tothe performance of the current bicycle action, can modify an intensityof illumination emitted by the one or more lighting devices in responseto the performance of the current bicycle action, can modify a patternof illumination emitted by the one or more lighting devices in responseto the performance of the current bicycle action, and/or can modify acolor of illumination emitted by the one or more lighting devices inresponse to the performance of the current bicycle action.

The system 1100, therefore, can modify the lighting in response tovarious bicycle action, such as:

when the current bicycle action is a turning action being performed bythe electric bicycle, the system 1100 causes a head lamp of the electricbicycle to modify a shape of illumination to light an area in front ofthe electric bicycle at which the electric bicycle is turning (e.g., toilluminate the turn) and to emit a pattern indicative of the turn viathe head lamp;

when the current bicycle action is an acceleration action beingperformed by the electric bicycle, the system 1100 causes a head lamp ofthe electric bicycle to modify a shape of illumination to light a largerarea in front of the electric bicycle;

when the current bicycle action is an acceleration action beingperformed by the electric bicycle, the system 1100 causes downlightingof the electric bicycle to modify an envelope of illumination toincrease the visibility of the electric bicycle during the brakingaction; and so on.

Thus, the automatic lighting system 1100 can automatically modifylighting for an electric bicycle in response to various contextinformation and/or bicycle actions. As described herein, the system 1100can anticipate or determine a context for an area predicted to beentered by the electric bicycle and modify its lighting in advance ofreaching the area.

For example, the automatic lighting system 1100, which is stored inmemory of the controller 215 of the electric bicycle 200, performsoperations to transmit location information for a location that includesthe electric bicycle (or is predicted to include the bicycle) to thefleet management server 140, which manages a fleet of electric bicyclesthat includes the electric bicycle 200. The system 1100 receives, fromthe fleet management server 140, an indication that the location iscurrently an unsafe location for bicycles and causes the electricbicycle 200 to perform a visibility action in response to the indicationof the unsafe location for bicycles (e.g., in advance of reaching thelocation).

The fleet management server 140, as described herein, can utilizeinformation from other electric bicycles to determine that the locationis currently an unsafe location for bicycles. Further, the server 140can make determinations based on various sets of data, such as data thatrepresents a time-weighted average of potential hazard events thatpreviously occurred with other electric bicycles of the fleet ofelectric bicycles. Thus, the server 140 can update the level of dangeror hazard for the location as time passes and electric bicycles eitherencounter or do not encounter potential hazards.

Examples of a Location Safety System

As described herein, in some embodiments, the electric bicycle 110performs safety actions based on how safe a location (e.g., an area,street, intersection, path, and so on) is determined to be for a givenbicycle ride with the bicycle 110.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating components of a location-basedlighting system 1400. The components and/or modules of thelocation-based lighting system 1400 (which can be supported or includedby the safety system 130 and/or the fleet management server 140) can beimplemented with a combination of software (e.g., executableinstructions, or computer code) and hardware (e.g., at least a memoryand processor). Accordingly, as used herein, in some exampleembodiments, a component/module is a processor-implementedcomponent/module and represents a computing device having a processorthat is at least temporarily configured and/or programmed by executableinstructions stored in memory to perform one or more of the functionsthat are described herein. The location-based lighting system 1400includes a bicycle location module 1410 (which accesses map data 1420and/or fleet data 1425) and a lighting module 1430.

In some embodiments, the bicycle location module 1410 is configuredand/or programmed to identify a location associated with an environmentthrough which the electric bicycle is traveling. For example, thebicycle location module 1410 can identify the location (or a locationtype) as a certain geographical location associated with the environmentthrough which the electric bicycle is traveling, such as via map data1420 accessed by the module 1410. In some cases, the bicycle locationmodule 1410 identifies the location associated with an environmentthrough which the electric bicycle is predicted to travel based on adetermined path of travel for the electric bicycle.

As another example, the bicycle location module 1410 identifies a typeof travel surface associated with the environment through which theelectric bicycle is traveling, and/or specific intersection on a citygrid within the environment through which the electric bicycle istraveling. The map data 1420 can provide GPS information, such asLat-Lon data for the area in which the bicycle is traveling or otheridentifiers, such as a street or path upon which the bicycle is riding.

The bicycle location module 1410 identifies the location associated withan environment through which the electric bicycle is traveling using mapdata 1420 (e.g., global positioning system (GPS) data) captured by theone or more sensors attached to the frame of the electric bicycle,motion detection data captured by the one or more sensors attached tothe frame of the electric bicycle (e.g., to determine whether the areais a road or path based on the detection of other types of vehicles)and/or image data captured by the one or more sensors attached to theframe of the electric bicycle (e.g., to determine the type of area basedon features in images of the area). Further, the bicycle location module1410 can utilize the fleet data 1425 to assist in determining the typeof location (e.g., using information from multiple bicycles of a fleetof bicycles manages by the fleet management server 140).

In some embodiments, the lighting module 1430 is configured and/orprogrammed to determine a safety metric for the identified location andcause the electric bicycle to perform a lighting action for the electricbicycle that is based on the safety metric determined for the location.

The safety metric can be in various formats or scales, and functions torepresent a current safety level for the location. For example, themetric can have a simple scale (e.g., low danger, medium danger, highdanger), or can be more granular (e.g., a number from 1-100). Further,the safety metric can indicate a type of dangerous condition at thelocation associated with the environment through which the electricbicycle is traveling, as well as the level of danger (or safety).

For example, the lighting module 1430 can determine the safety metric inthe following example scenarios:

transmitting location information identified by the bicycle locationmodule 1410 for the location through which the electric bicycle istraveling to the fleet management server 140, receiving, from the fleetmanagement server 140, information captured by other electric bicyclesof the fleet of electric bicycles that have previously traveled throughthe location, and generating the safety metric based on the informationcaptured by the other electric bicycles. In some cases, the server 140can generate the safety metric and send the metric information to thesystem 1400;

transmitting location information identified by the bicycle locationmodule 1410 for the location through which the electric bicycle istraveling to the fleet management server 140, receiving, from the fleetmanagement server 140, information captured by other electric bicyclesof the fleet of electric bicycles that have previously traveled throughthe location within a certain time period before a current time periodwithin which the electric bicycle travels through the location, andgenerating the safety metric based on the information captured by theother electric bicycles;

transmitting location information identified by the bicycle locationmodule 1410 for the location through which the electric bicycle istraveling to the public database server 150 that tracks historicalinformation associated with dangerous events at the location, receiving,from the public database 150, information associated with the dangerousevents at the location, and generating the safety metric based on theinformation received from the public database; and so on.

The lighting module 1430, in some cases, can perform the safety actionsdescribed herein, such as actions to enhance a visibility of theelectric bicycle within the environment (e.g., to be seen) and/oractions to increase a visibility of objects within the environment(e.g., to see within the environment)

As described herein, in some embodiments, the location-based lightingsystem 1400 performs various processes and methods when performingactions based on a determined level of safety for a location thatincludes (or is predicted to include) the electric bicycle.

FIG. 15 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method 1500 forperforming a safety action based on a location of an electric bicycle.The method 1500 may be performed by the location-based lighting system1400 and, accordingly, is described herein merely by way of referencethereto. It will be appreciated that the method 1500 may be performed onany suitable hardware.

In operation 1510, the location-based lighting system 1400 identifies alocation associated with an environment through which the electricbicycle is traveling. For example, the bicycle location module 1410 canidentify the location (or a location type) as a certain geographicallocation associated with the environment through which the electricbicycle is traveling, such as via map data 1420 accessed by the module1410. In some cases, the bicycle location module 1410 identifies thelocation associated with an environment through which the electricbicycle is predicted to travel based on a determined path of travel forthe electric bicycle.

In operation 1520, the location-based lighting system 1400 determines asafety metric for the identified location. For example, the lightingmodule 1430 can determine a safety metric based on sensed data and/ordata stored at remote servers (e.g., the fleet management server 140).The safety metric can be determined based on a current visibility at thelocation, an indication of previous potential hazard events at thelocation, a number and/or proximity of vehicles at the location, a typeof route or surface at the location, and so on.

In operation 1530, the location-based lighting system 1400 causes theelectric bicycle to perform a lighting action for the electric bicyclethat is based on the safety metric determined for the location. Forexample, the lighting module 1430 can perform the safety actionsdescribed herein, such as actions to enhance a visibility of theelectric bicycle within the environment and/or actions to increase avisibility of objects within the environment.

FIG. 16 is a diagram 1600 illustrating a safety action performed for arider of an electric bicycle. As depicted, the electric bicycle 1610travels along a path 1605 of low visibility. The location-based lightingsystem 1400, having knowledge of the visibility, causes the electricbicycle 1610 to emit a head lamp beam having a high intensity and largeshape. As the electric bicycle 1610 moves to a different path 1620,which has its own lighting (e.g., the streetlights 1622), the system1400 modifies the head lamp beam to a lower intensity beam 1625, becausethe streetlights 1622 also provide illumination for the path 1620.

Thus, the location-based lighting system 1400 can perform variousoperations for adjusting the lighting for an electric bicycle based on acurrent or predicted location of the bicycle. For example, thelocation-based lighting system 1400 is stored in memory of thecontroller 215 of the electric bicycle 200 and performs operations toidentify a location through which the electric bicycle is predicted toenter along a current path of travel and determine a safety metric forthe identified location. Using the determined metric, the system 1400causes the electric bicycle to perform a lighting action for theelectric bicycle that is based on the safety metric determined for thelocation. In some cases, the system 1400 performs the lighting action inadvance of the electric bicycle entering the identified location.

Examples of a Path Lighting System

As described herein, in some embodiments, the electric bicycle 100provides path specific lighting patterns and intensities when anelectric bicycle enters or is traveling along a bicycle path. Forexample, the electric bicycle can utilize various lighting devices(e.g., laser illumination devices) to illuminate the edges, borders,shape, and/or center line of the bicycle path.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating components of a path lightingsystem 1700. The components and/or modules of the path lighting system1700 (which can be supported or included by the safety system 130 and/orthe fleet management server 140) can be implemented with a combinationof software (e.g., executable instructions, or computer code) andhardware (e.g., at least a memory and processor). Accordingly, as usedherein, in some example embodiments, a component/module is aprocessor-implemented component/module and represents a computing devicehaving a processor that is at least temporarily configured and/orprogrammed by executable instructions stored in memory to perform one ormore of the functions that are described herein. The path lightingsystem 1700 includes a path determination module 1710 (which accessesmap data 1720 and/or fleet data 1725) and a lighting module 1730.

In some embodiments, the bicycle path module 1710 is configured and/orprogrammed to determine the electric bicycle is traveling on a bicyclepath and capture information associated with the bicycle path. Forexample, the bicycle path module 1710 can determine the electric bicycleis traveling on a bicycle path based on global positioning system (GPS)data captured by the one or more sensors (e.g., GPS sensors) thatidentifies a current location of the electric bicycle, based on map data(e.g., map data 1720, which is similar to map data 1420) that identifiesa current location of the electric bicycle is a location on the bicyclepath, based on image data captured by image sensors that identify thearea surrounding the bicycle as a bike path, based on path objects(e.g., signs, signals, and so on) that provide an identifier of the bikepath to the bicycle, and so on.

Further, the bicycle path module 1710 can capture various types ofinformation about the bicycle path, such as information identifying alevel of visibility for a rider of the electric bicycle while travelingon the bicycle path, information identifying a width of the bicyclepath, information identifying a type of surface of the bicycle path,information identifying a current weather condition for an environmentthat includes the bicycle path, and so on.

In some cases, the bicycle path module 1710 can capture or accessinformation from remote servers, such as the fleet management server140. For example, the module 1710 can capture information associatedwith the bicycle path (e.g., size or width of path, geometry of path,and so on) from the fleet management server 140 or from a fleet database1725 of the system 1700, which can include a database that relatesbicycle path identifiers and bicycle path size or width information. Themodule can access similar information from other databases, such asbicycle path information from a public mapping database that includesinformation relating bicycle paths with bicycle path size and/orlocation information.

In some embodiments, the lighting module 1730 is configured and/orprogrammed to generate lighting parameters based on the capturedinformation associated with the bicycle path and cause the electricbicycle to perform a lighting action for the electric bicycle using thegenerated lighting parameters. For example, the lighting module canperform various actions to illuminate a shape or width of the bicyclepath. Example actions include emitting a laser projection that defines aperimeter of the bicycle path traveled by the electric bicycle, emittinga laser projection that creates a center line on the bicycle pathtraveled by the electric bicycle, and so on.

The lighting module 1730, therefore, generates lighting parameters(e.g., parameters that indicate a size of the laser projection or alocation with respect to the moving electric bicycle) based on theinformation associated with the bicycle path. As an example, the pathinformation can indicate a bike path has a width of 12 feet across andgenerate lighting parameters that project a right-side edge line 3 feetfrom the bicycle (e.g., the bicycle being in a center of the right sideof the path) and a left side edge 9 feet from the bicycle, to create abox or channel within the bike path during low or dark lightingconditions.

Similarly, the module 1730 can generate lighting parameters that projecta centerline that is 3 feet from the bicycle (e.g., the bicycle being ina center of the right side of the path) to line of illumination on thecenter of the bike path during low or dark lighting conditions.

As described herein, the path lighting system 1700 performs variousprocesses or methods to illuminate a bicycle path for an electricbicycle. FIG. 18 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method 1800for performing a safety action based on a determination of a pathtraveled by an electric bicycle. The method 1800 may be performed by thepath lighting system 1700 and, accordingly, is described herein merelyby way of reference thereto. It will be appreciated that the method 1800may be performed on any suitable hardware.

In operation 1810, the path lighting system 1700 determines the electricbicycle is traveling on a bicycle path and captures informationassociated with the bicycle path. For example, the bicycle path module1710 can capture various types of information about the bicycle path,such as information identifying a level of visibility for a rider of theelectric bicycle while traveling on the bicycle path, informationidentifying a width of the bicycle path, information identifying a typeof surface of the bicycle path, information identifying a currentweather condition for an environment that includes the bicycle path, andso on.

In operation 1820, the path lighting system 1700 generates lightingparameters based on the captured information associated with the bicyclepath and causes, in operation 1830, the electric bicycle to perform alighting action for the electric bicycle using the generated lightingparameters. For example, the module 1730 can generate lightingparameters that project a centerline that is 3 feet from the bicycle(e.g., the bicycle being in a center of the right side of the path) toline of illumination on the center of the bike path during low or darklighting conditions.

FIGS. 19A-19B illustrate scenarios reflecting the types of lightingactions performed by the system 1800 when an electric bicycle isdetermined to be on a bicycle path or other dark corridor or road.

For example, FIG. 19A depicts a scenario 1900 where an electric bicycle1910 travels along a bicycle path 1920 in dark or poor visibilityconditions (e.g., at night or during a foggy morning), projecting afront beam 1915 from head lamp. The path lighting system 1700 capturesinformation about the path 1920, such as the width of the path 1920, andgenerates lighting parameters associated with the width of the path1920, such as parameters that define a laser illumination box 1925 toproject around and in front of the electric bicycle 1910. Using theparameters, the electric bicycle 1910, via side or front lightingdevices, projects the laser illumination, such as the box 1925, tocreate a lane of travel for the bicycle 1910 that approximates the widthof the path 1920.

The laser illumination box 1925 can take on different shapes orgeometries and surround the bicycle 1910 at different locations. Forexample, as depicted in FIG. 19A, the box 1925 is shaped such that aright edge is closer to the bicycle 1910, while the left edge is awayfrom the bicycle 1910, in order to outline the bike path 1920 while thebicycle 1910 travels on one side (e.g., the right side) of the path1920, and thus on within the right side within the box 1925.

Of course, the bicycle can project other illumination to orient thebicycle 1910 along the path 1920, such as edge lines, a front arrow thatmodifies its position as the path changes shape along a route of travel,and so on. For example, FIG. 19B depicts a scenario 1930 where theelectric bicycle 1910 creates and illuminates a center line 1935 on thepath 1920, similar to the box 1925, in order to guide the rider of thebicycle 1910 along the path 1920 at a safe location or area on the path(e.g., on the right side).

Thus, as described herein, the system 1700 can present various lightingoptions when a bicycle is determined to be riding along a bicycle path,such as actions of emitting a laser projection that defines a perimeterof the bicycle path traveled by the electric bicycle, actions ofemitting a laser projection that creates a center line on the bicyclepath traveled by the electric bicycle, actions of adjusting an intensityof light emitted by a head lamp of the electric bicycle, actions ofadjusting a shape of a light envelope projected around the electricbicycle, and so on.

The system 1700 therefore, performs operations to create a safe, orsafer, riding experience on a bicycle path. For example, the system1700, which is stored in memory of the controller 215 of the electricbicycle 200, can determine the electric bicycle is traveling on abicycle path, capture information associated with a width or size of thebicycle path, and cause the electric bicycle to perform a lightingaction for the electric bicycle using the captured information. Thelighting action can include emitting a laser projection that creates acenter line on the bicycle path traveled by the electric bicycle and/orcreates a lighted perimeter of the bicycle path traveled by the electricbicycle.

Examples of a Bicycle Control System

As described herein, in some embodiments, the electric bicycle 110modifies operations (e.g., adjusts a top speed or available pedal assistlevel) based on the rider on the bicycle 110 and/or a detected ordetermined position of the rider on the bicycle 110.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating components of a bicycle controlsystem 2000. The components and/or modules of the bicycle control system2000 (which can be supported or included by the safety system 130 and/orthe fleet management server 140) can be implemented with a combinationof software (e.g., executable instructions, or computer code) andhardware (e.g., at least a memory and processor). Accordingly, as usedherein, in some example embodiments, a component/module is aprocessor-implemented component/module and represents a computing devicehaving a processor that is at least temporarily configured and/orprogrammed by executable instructions stored in memory to perform one ormore of the functions that are described herein. The bicycle controlsystem 2000 includes a rider identification module 2010, a riderposition module 2020, and a bicycle operation module 2030.

In some embodiments, the rider identification module 2010 is configuredand/or programmed to identify a rider of the electric bicycle. Forexample, the rider identification module 2010 can identify the riderfrom credentials provided by the rider via the user interface and/or viacertain personal characteristics, such as a weight distribution of therider, a seat height or other configuration of the rider, and so on. Insome cases, for electric bicycles owned and operated by a single rider,the module 2010 can assume or default to a rider always being the ownerof the bicycle.

However, in cases where electric bicycles are utilized by multipleriders (e.g., fleet operations, bike share service, families, and soon), the module 2010 can identify the rider based on credentialsprovided by the rider, such as log in or payment credentials, employeecredentials (for fleet users), a paired key fob or mobile device, and soon.

In some embodiments, the rider position module 2020 is configured and/orprogrammed to determine a current position of the rider on the electricbicycle. For example, the rider position module 2020 can determine therider is in a safe, normal, or suitable position on the bicycle (e.g.,seated and both hands on the handlebars with both feet on the pedals) oran unsafe or unsuitable position (e.g., seated but leaning back, onehand on the handlebars, both legs on one side of the bicycle, and soon).

The rider position module 2020 can determine the current position basedon data captured by various sensors 250 of the bicycle, such as theelectric bicycle 200. For example, the module 2020:

determines a current position of the rider on the electric bicycle is asuitable position based on information captured by a force sensor at aseat of the electric bicycle, force sensor at the pedals, and forcesensors at grips of handlebars of the electric bicycle;

determines a current position of the rider on the electric bicycle is asuitable position based on weight information (e.g., a distribution ofweight) captured by a force sensor at a seat of the electric bicycle;

determines a current position of the rider on the electric bicycle is asuitable position based on weight information captured by a force sensorat a seat of the electric bicycle and based on pedal sensors at pedalsof the electric bicycle that capture forces applied to the pedals of theelectric bicycle;

determines a current position of the rider on the electric bicycle is asuitable position based on grip information captured by force sensors atgrips of handlebars of the electric bicycle and based on pedal sensorsat pedals of the electric bicycle that capture forces applied to thepedals of the electric bicycle; and so on.

In some embodiments, the bicycle control module 2030 is configuredand/or programmed to control one or more operations of the electricbicycle based on the identification of the rider of the electric bicycleand/or based on the determined current position of the rider on theelectric bicycle. For example, can modify operations in a variety ofways, such as by:

restricting or lowering a top speed of the electric bicycle based on theidentification of the rider of the electric bicycle and/or based on thedetermined current position of the rider on the electric bicycle;

performing a braking operation for the electric bicycle based on theidentification of the rider of the electric bicycle and/or based on thedetermined current position of the rider on the electric bicycle;

limiting an available pedal assist (PAS) level of operation for theelectric bicycle based on the identification of the rider of theelectric bicycle and/or based on the determined current position of therider on the electric bicycle;

preventing a throttle type operation for the electric bicycle based onthe identification of the rider of the electric bicycle and/or based onthe determined current position of the rider on the electric bicycle;

restricting a top speed of the electric bicycle based on theidentification of the rider of the electric bicycle as a new rider ofthe electric bicycle and based on the determined current position of therider on the electric bicycle being an unfavorable or undesirableposition for riding the electric bicycle;

when the electric bicycle is part of a fleet of electric bicyclesprovided to riders via a bicycle share service, restricting a top speedof the electric bicycle based on the identification of the rider of theelectric bicycle as a new rider to the bicycle share service and/orbased on the determined current position of the rider on the electricbicycle being an unfavorable position for riding the electric bicycle;and so on.

Thus, the system 2000 considers type of rider (e.g., new, young,inexperienced, new to the bicycle, and so on), and/or rider position(e.g., safe or unsafe position) when determined whether to modifyoperations or permit complete use of the electric bicycle, among otherthings. As described herein, the system 2000 can perform variousprocesses or methods when controlling the operation of an electricbicycle.

FIG. 21 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method 2100 forcontrolling an operation of an electric bicycle. The method 2100 may beperformed by the bicycle control system 2000 and, accordingly, isdescribed herein merely by way of reference thereto. It will beappreciated that the method 2100 may be performed on any suitablehardware.

In operation 2110, the bicycle control system 2000 identifies a rider ofthe electric bicycle. For example, the rider identification module 2010can identify the rider from credentials provided by the rider via theuser interface and/or via certain personal characteristics, such as aweight distribution of the rider, a seat height or other configurationof the rider, and so on.

Also, as described herein, in cases where electric bicycles are utilizedby multiple riders (e.g., fleet operations, bike share service,families, and so on), the module 2010 can identify the rider based oncredentials provided by the rider, such as log in or paymentcredentials, employee credentials (for fleet users), and so on.

In operation 2120, the bicycle control system 2000 determines a currentposition of the rider on the electric bicycle based on sensorinformation captured by one or more sensors of the electric bicycle. Forexample, the rider position module 2020 can determine the rider is in asafe, normal, or suitable position on the bicycle (e.g., seated and bothhands on the handlebars with both feet on the pedals) or an unsafe orunsuitable position (e.g., seated but leaning back, one hand on thehandlebars, both legs on one side of the bicycle, and so on).

In operation 2130, the bicycle control system 2000 controls one or moreoperations of the electric bicycle based on the determined currentposition of the rider on the electric bicycle. For example, the bicyclecontrol module 2030 can modify limits applied to the operation of theelectric bicycle as well, such as the top speed or available PAS levelfor a rider.

Thus, the bicycle control system 2000 can perform the following controloperations to provide a safe and enjoyable riding experience to a rider,such as a new rider:

determine the rider is in a position that is associated with a saferiding position on the electric bicycle, and control the one or moreoperations of the electric bicycle to remove any restricted operationsbased on the determination that the rider is in a safe riding positionon the electric bicycle for a certain period of time (e.g., 3-10seconds);

determine the rider is in an unsafe position and restrict operations ofthe electric bicycle until the rider moves into a safe position for acertain period of time (e.g., 3-10 seconds); and so on.

The electric bicycle, in some cases, can inform the rider of an appliedrestriction or other modified operation via a user interface of thebicycle. For example, FIG. 22 depicts a user interface 2200 presented toa rider currently on the electric bicycle in an unsafe position. Theuser interface 2200 presents information identifying a current mode ofoperation 2210 (e.g., a “restricted speed” mode), instructions 2220 onwhat actions to perform to remove the restriction, and information 2230,2235 that identifies the applied speed and PAS level restrictions.

FIG. 23 depicts another user interface 2300, which presents informationidentifying a current mode of operation 2310 as a “training mode ofoperation,” where the user is new to the electric bicycle. The userinterface 2300 presents information 2320 identifying the stage oftraining (e.g., 3^(rd) of 10 rides), as well as information 2330, 2335that identifies the applied speed and PAS level restrictions. Of course,the system 2000 can render and present other types of information toriders of the electric bicycles.

In some embodiments, the bicycle control system 2300 can controloperations based on a mode of operation of the bicycle. For example, thesensor data described herein can determine a current mode of operation(e.g., normal riding mode, hill mode, walking mode) and controloperations based on the mode of operation.

Example Scenarios Include:

The system 2300 determines a bicycle is riding up a hill based on tirepressure sensors measure a delta or difference in the pressure on onetire versus another and/or a front shock is displaced a certain distanceand causes a PAS level to increase automatically (or reduce when thesensors indicate the bicycle is going downhill);

The system 2300 determines a rider is standing on their bicycle to pedalharder and auto adjusts the PAS level to meet the effort applied by therider (e.g., meeting a crank rotation velocity to an adjusted PASlevel);

The system 2300 determines the bicycle is in a walk mode of operation,and causes the back wheel to rotate slowly to maintain a pace with theuser walking the bicycle;

The system 2300 determines a front wheel is not spinning at a same speedas the back wheel and prevents the throttle from operating, as thebicycle is likely standing up or being held up by the user; and so on.

Thus, in some embodiments, the bicycle control system 2000 provides asafe, enjoyable riding experience to a rider of an electric bicycle bycontrolling operations of the bicycle to ensure the rider is capable andproperly positioned to ride the bicycle in a safe manner. For example,the system 2000, stored in the memory of the controller 215 of theelectric bicycle 200, can perform operations to determine a currentposition of the rider on the electric bicycle is an unsuitable positionbased on sensor information captured by one or more sensors of theelectric bicycle, and restrict one or more operations of the electricbicycle based on the determined current position of the rider on theelectric bicycle being the unsuitable position.

Examples of a Friction Detection System

As described herein, in some embodiments, the electric bicycle 100utilizes sensor information to determine a level of friction applied bya road surface to an electric bicycle, in order to warn a rider ofslippery or dangerous conditions (e.g., due to rain, sleet, snow, and soon) and/or perform mitigation operations to mitigate the potentialhazardous operation of the bicycle.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram illustrating components of a frictiondetection system 2400. The components and/or modules of the frictiondetection system 2400. (which can be supported or included by the safetysystem 130 and/or the fleet management server 140) can be implementedwith a combination of software (e.g., executable instructions, orcomputer code) and hardware (e.g., at least a memory and processor).Accordingly, as used herein, in some example embodiments, acomponent/module is a processor-implemented component/module andrepresents a computing device having a processor that is at leasttemporarily configured and/or programmed by executable instructionsstored in memory to perform one or more of the functions that aredescribed herein. The friction detection system 2400 includes a sensordata module 2410, a friction module 2420, and an action module 2430.

In some embodiments, the sensor data module 2410 is configured and/orprogrammed to receive information captured by one or more sensors of theelectric bicycle. For example, the sensor data module 2410 can receiveor access information measured by the sensors 250 (e.g., anaccelerometer or IMUs) that indicates a current operation of theelectric bicycle 200, such as forces applied to the bicycle 200 whentraveling on a road.

In some embodiments, the friction module 2420 is configured and/orprogrammed to determine or estimate one or more metrics associated witha contact friction currently applied to the electric bicycle by a roadsurface upon which the electric bicycle is traveling. For example, thefriction module 2420 can determine the metrics by determining multipleforce vectors applied to the electric bicycle at a current speed andtilt angle of the electric bicycle from motion data captured by the oneor more sensors of the electric bicycle, comparing the multiple forcevectors to baseline force vectors for the electric bicycle at thecurrent speed and tilt angle, and determining the one or more metricsbased on the comparison of the multiple force vectors to baseline forcevectors for the electric bicycle.

In some cases, the sensor data module 2410 can also capture or receiveinformation that identifies local weather data (e.g., via moisture ortemperature sensors), in order to capture or determine a baseline oranticipated friction level. Further, the friction module 2420 can accesstire pressure information, and utilize such information when determiningand/or comparing force vectors, in order to accurately determining themetrics for the bicycle.

Thus, the friction module 2420 can determine or estimate the one or moremetrics associated with the contact friction currently applied to theelectric bicycle based on force vectors determined for the electricbicycle from accelerometer data that identifies a current speed and tiltangle for the electric bicycle.

In some embodiments, the action module 2430 is configured and/orprogrammed to perform an action in response to the estimated contactfriction currently applied to the electric bicycle. For example, theaction module 2430 can present an alert to a rider of the electricbicycle via a user interface of the electric bicycle that indicates aslippery condition on the road surface upon which the electric bicycleis traveling, can perform an automatic braking operation when the one ormore metrics represent a slippery condition on the road surface uponwhich the electric bicycle is traveling, can present a haptic feedbackwarning to a rider of the electric bicycle that indicates a slipperycondition or dangerous level of traction on the road surface upon whichthe electric bicycle is traveling; and so on.

As described herein, the friction detection system 2400 performs variousprocesses and methods when determining that an electric bicycle may slipon a road surface. FIG. 25 is a flow diagram illustrating an examplemethod 2500 for alerting a rider of an electric bicycle of a currenttraction condition for the electric bicycle. The method 2500 may beperformed by the friction detection system 2400 and, accordingly, isdescribed herein merely by way of reference thereto. It will beappreciated that the method 2500 may be performed on any suitablehardware.

In operation 2510, the friction detection system 2400 receivesinformation captured by one or more sensors of the electric bicycle,such as information captured by accelerometers or IMUs of the electricbicycle that indicates operational information (e.g., force vectors) forthe bicycle. For example, the sensor data module 2410 can receive oraccess information measured by the sensors 250 (e.g., an accelerometeror IMUs located on a frame of the bicycle, such as at the center of massof the bicycle) that indicates a current operation of the electricbicycle 200, such as forces applied to the bicycle 200 when traveling ona road.

In operation 2520, the friction detection system 2400 determines one ormore metrics associated with a contact friction currently applied to theelectric bicycle by a road surface upon which the electric bicycle istraveling. For example, the friction module 2420 can determine orestimate the one or more metrics associated with the contact frictioncurrently applied to the electric bicycle based on force vectorsdetermined for the electric bicycle from accelerometer data thatidentifies a current speed and tilt angle for the electric bicycle.

In operation 2530, the friction detection system 2400 performs an actionin response to the estimated contact friction currently applied to theelectric bicycle. For example, the action module 2430 can present analert to a rider of the electric bicycle via a user interface of theelectric bicycle that indicates a slippery condition on the road surfaceupon which the electric bicycle is traveling, can perform an automaticbraking operation when the one or more metrics represent a slipperycondition on the road surface upon which the electric bicycle istraveling, can present a haptic feedback warning to a rider of theelectric bicycle that indicates a slippery condition or dangerous levelof traction on the road surface upon which the electric bicycle istraveling; and so on.

FIG. 26 depicts an example user interface 2600 presented to a rider ofan electric bicycle. The user interface 2600 includes a warning message2610 (e.g., “slippery conditions”) that includes a currently detectedlevel of traction for the bicycle, such as a warning 2620 to ridecarefully. Thus, the electric bicycle can display information to a riderthat warns the rider of slippery or dangerous conditions. Further, asdescribed herein, the bicycle can modify operations, such as slow down,based on certain detected conditions, in order to provide a safe orsafer riding experience to the rider.

The system 2400, therefore, performs operations to provide a safe ridingexperience in a variety of conditions (e.g., cold weather, snow, rain,sleet, and so on). For example, the system 2400 stored in the memory ofthe controller 215 of the electric bicycle 200, can perform operationsto identify, from one or more sensors of the electric bicycle, an unsafeenvironmental condition at an environment within which the electricbicycle is traveling, determine a friction condition for a road surfaceupon which the electric bicycle is traveling through the environment,and perform an action in response to the determined friction conditionfor the road surface upon which the electric bicycle is travelingthrough the environment.

Example Embodiments of the Technology

The following are example embodiments of the technology, as describedherein.

In some embodiments, a rider safety system is stored in memory of thecontroller of an electric bicycle and includes: a hazard detectionmodule that receives data captured by one or more sensors and from anenvironment through which an electric bicycle is traveling and detectsan occurrence of a potential hazard to the electric bicycle or to arider of the electric bicycle and an imminence of the potential hazardto the electric bicycle or to the rider of the electric bicycle; anaction selection module that selects a safety action based on theoccurrence of the potential hazard and the imminence of the potentialhazard; and an action module that causes the electric bicycle to performthe selected safety action in response to the detected potential hazard.

For example, the rider safety system can perform a method of detectingan occurrence of a potential hazard to the electric bicycle or to arider of the electric bicycle based on data from an environment throughwhich the electric bicycle is traveling that is captured by one or moresensors of the electric bicycle and selecting a safety action based onthe occurrence of the potential hazard, where the selected safety actionincludes a safety action that alerts the rider to the occurrence of thepotential hazard to the electric bicycle or to the rider of the electricbicycle, and a safety action that causes the electric bicycle to warn anentity associated with the potential hazard of the occurrence of thepotential hazard.

In some embodiments, a rider safety system is stored in memory of thecontroller of an electric bicycle and includes: a hazard detectionmodule that receives data captured by the one or more sensors and froman environment through which the electric bicycle is traveling anddetects an occurrence of a potential hazard to the electric bicycle orto a rider of the electric bicycle; an action selection module thatselects a safety action based on the occurrence of the potential hazard,where the selected safety action includes an action performed by the oneor more haptic actuators of the electric bicycle; and an action modulethat causes the electric bicycle to perform the selected safety actionin response to the detected potential hazard.

For example, the rider safety system can perform a method of detectingan occurrence of a potential hazard to the electric bicycle or to arider of the electric bicycle, selecting a safety action based on theoccurrence of the potential hazard, where the selected safety actionincludes presenting haptic feedback to a rider of the electric bicycle,causing the electric bicycle to perform the selected safety action inresponse to the detected potential hazard, determining that the rider ofthe electric bicycle has performed a turning operation or a brakingoperation in response to the selected safety action, and causing theelectric bicycle to stop performance of the selected safety action inresponse to the turning operation or the braking operation.

In some embodiments, a rider safety system is stored in memory of thecontroller of an electric bicycle and includes: an object detectionmodule that receives data captured by the one or more sensors and froman environment through which the electric bicycle is traveling anddetermines an identification of an object within the environment throughwhich the electric bicycle is traveling and a location of the objectwithin the environment through which the electric bicycle is traveling;an action selection module that selects a safety action based on theidentification of the object and the location of the object within theenvironment through which the electric bicycle is traveling; and anaction module that causes the electric bicycle to perform the selectedsafety action in response to the identification of the object.

For example, the rider safety system can perform a method of receivingdata captured by the one or more sensors and from an environment throughwhich the electric bicycle is traveling, determining a ride context forthe electric bicycle while traveling through the environment,identifying an object within the environment through which the electricbicycle is traveling based on the data captured by the one or moresensors and from the determined ride context, selecting a safety actionbased on the identification of the object, and causing the electricbicycle to perform the selected safety action in response to theidentification of the object.

In some embodiments, a bicycle visibility system is stored in memory ofthe controller of an electric bicycle and includes: a hazard detectionmodule that receives data captured by the one or more sensors and froman environment through which the electric bicycle is traveling anddetects an occurrence of a potential hazard to the electric bicycle orto a rider of the electric bicycle and a context associated with theoccurrence of the potential hazard; a device selection module thatselects one or more safety devices based on the occurrence of thepotential hazard and the context of the occurrence of the potentialhazard; and an action module that causes the electric bicycle to performa visibility action for the electric bicycle using the selected one ormore safety devices.

For example, the bicycle visibility system can perform a method ofdetecting a potential hazard proximate to an electric bicycle,determining a context associated with a path traveled by the electricbicycle, selecting one or more lighting devices based on the potentialhazard and the determined context of the path traveled by the electricbicycle, and causing the electric bicycle to perform a visibility actionfor the electric bicycle using the selected one or more lightingdevices.

In some embodiments, an automatic lighting system is stored in memory ofthe controller of an electric bicycle and includes: a bicycle contextmodule that determines a ride context associated with an environmentthrough which the electric bicycle is traveling; and a lighting modulethat selects one or more lighting devices based on the ride context ofthe environment through which the electric bicycle is traveling andcauses the electric bicycle to perform a lighting action for theelectric bicycle using the selected one or more lighting devices that isbased on the ride context associated with the environment through whichthe electric bicycle is traveling.

For example, the automatic lighting system can perform a method oftransmitting location information for a location that includes theelectric bicycle to a fleet management server that manages a fleet ofelectric bicycles that includes the electric bicycle, receiving, fromthe fleet management server, an indication that the location iscurrently an unsafe location for bicycles, and causing the electricbicycle to perform a visibility action in response to the indication ofthe unsafe location for bicycles.

In some embodiments, a location-based lighting system is stored inmemory of the controller of an electric bicycle and includes: a bicyclelocation module that identifies a location associated with anenvironment through which the electric bicycle is traveling; and alighting module that determines a safety metric for the identifiedlocation and causes the electric bicycle to perform a lighting actionfor the electric bicycle using the multiple lighting devices that isbased on the safety metric determined for the location.

For example, the location-based lighting system can perform a method ofidentifying a location through which the electric bicycle is predictedto enter along a current path of travel, determining a safety metric forthe identified location, and causing the electric bicycle to perform alighting action for the electric bicycle that is based on the safetymetric determined for the location, where the lighting action isperformed in advance of the electric bicycle entering the identifiedlocation.

In some embodiments, a path lighting system is stored in memory of thecontroller of an electric bicycle and includes: a bicycle path modulethat determines the electric bicycle is traveling on a bicycle path andcaptures information associated with the bicycle path; and a lightingmodule that generates lighting parameters based on the capturedinformation associated with the bicycle path and causes the electricbicycle to perform a lighting action for the electric bicycle using thegenerated lighting parameters.

For example, the path lighting system can perform a method ofdetermining an electric bicycle is traveling on a bicycle path,capturing information associated with a width of the bicycle path, andcausing the electric bicycle to perform a lighting action for theelectric bicycle using the captured information, such as an action toilluminate a representative center line for the bicycle path.

In some embodiments, a bicycle control system is stored in memory of thecontroller of an electric bicycle and includes: a rider identificationmodule that identifies a rider of the electric bicycle; a rider positionmodule that determines a current position of the rider on the electricbicycle; and a control module that controls one or more operations ofthe electric bicycle based on the identification of the rider of theelectric bicycle and based on the determined current position of therider on the electric bicycle.

For example, the bicycle control system can perform a method ofdetermining a current position of a rider on an electric bicycle is anunsuitable or unfavorable position based on sensor information capturedby one or more sensors of the electric bicycle and restricting one ormore operations of the electric bicycle based on the determined currentposition of the rider on the electric bicycle being the unsuitable orunfavorable position.

In some embodiments, a friction detection system is stored in memory ofthe controller of the electric bicycle and includes: a sensor datamodule that receives information captured by the one or more sensors ofthe electric bicycle; a friction module that determines one or moremetrics associated with a contact friction currently applied to theelectric bicycle by a road surface upon which the electric bicycle istraveling; and an action module that performs an action in response tothe estimated contact friction currently applied to the electricbicycle.

For example, the friction detection system can perform a method ofidentifying, from one or more sensors of the electric bicycle, an unsafeenvironmental condition at an environment within which the electricbicycle is traveling, determining a friction condition for a roadsurface upon which the electric bicycle is traveling through theenvironment, and performing an action in response to the determinedfriction condition for the road surface upon which the electric bicycleis traveling through the environment.

CONCLUSION

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout thedescription and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and thelike are to be construed in an inclusive sense, as opposed to anexclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of“including, but not limited to.” As used herein, the terms “connected,”“coupled,” or any variant thereof, means any connection or coupling,either direct or indirect, between two or more elements; the coupling ofconnection between the elements can be physical, logical, or acombination thereof. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,”and words of similar import, when used in this application, shall referto this application as a whole and not to any particular portions ofthis application. Where the context permits, words in the above DetailedDescription using the singular or plural number may also include theplural or singular number respectively. The word “or”, in reference to alist of two or more items, covers all of the following interpretationsof the word: any of the items in the list, all of the items in the list,and any combination of the items in the list.

The above detailed description of embodiments of the disclosure is notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the teachings to the precise formdisclosed above. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, thedisclosure are described above for illustrative purposes, variousequivalent modifications are possible within the scope of thedisclosure, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize.

The teachings of the disclosure provided herein can be applied to othersystems, not necessarily the system described above. The elements andacts of the various embodiments described above can be combined toprovide further embodiments.

Any patents and applications and other references noted above, includingany that may be listed in accompanying filing papers, are incorporatedherein by reference. Aspects of the disclosure can be modified, ifnecessary, to employ the systems, functions, and concepts of the variousreferences described above to provide yet further embodiments of thedisclosure.

These and other changes can be made to the disclosure in light of theabove Detailed Description. While the above description describescertain embodiments of the disclosure, and describes the best modecontemplated, no matter how detailed the above appears in text, theteachings can be practiced in many ways. Details of the electric bikeand bike frame may vary considerably in its implementation details,while still being encompassed by the subject matter disclosed herein. Asnoted above, particular terminology used when describing certainfeatures or aspects of the disclosure should not be taken to imply thatthe terminology is being redefined herein to be restricted to anyspecific characteristics, features, or aspects of the disclosure withwhich that terminology is associated. In general, the terms used in thefollowing claims should not be construed to limit the disclosure to thespecific embodiments disclosed in the specification, unless the aboveDetailed Description section explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly,the actual scope of the disclosure encompasses not only the disclosedembodiments, but also all equivalent ways of practicing or implementingthe disclosure under the claims.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that specific embodimentshave been described herein for purposes of illustration, but thatvarious modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit andscope of the embodiments. Accordingly, the embodiments are not limitedexcept as by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electric bicycle, comprising: a frame having ahead tube, down tube, top tube, and seat tube; a front wheel attached tothe frame via a fork connected to the head tube; a rear wheel attachedto the frame via a dropout assembly of the frame; an electric motormounted to the rear wheel that propels the electric bicycle; a batterypack mounted to the frame of the electric bicycle that provides power tothe electric motor; a controller that controls operations of the batterypack of the electric bicycle and the electric motor of the electricbicycle; one or more sensors attached to the frame of the electricbicycle; and a rider safety system stored in memory of the controller,the rider safety system having multiple hardware modules, including: ahazard detection module that receives data captured by the one or moresensors and from an environment through which the electric bicycle istraveling and detects: an occurrence of a potential hazard to theelectric bicycle or to a rider of the electric bicycle; and an imminenceof the potential hazard to the electric bicycle or to the rider of theelectric bicycle; an action selection module that selects a safetyaction based on the occurrence of the potential hazard and the imminenceof the potential hazard; and an action module that causes the electricbicycle to perform the selected safety action in response to thedetected potential hazard.
 2. The electric bicycle of claim 1, whereinthe hazard detection module detects the potential hazard is a vehiclemoving towards the electric bicycle at a certain rate of speed above athreshold rate of speed associated with a dangerous movement of thevehicle with respect to the electric bicycle; and wherein the actionselection module selects: a safety action that alerts the rider to themovement of the vehicle towards the electric bicycle at the certain rateof speed; and a safety action that causes the electric bicycle toperform an auditory alarm in a direction towards the vehicle.
 3. Theelectric bicycle of claim 1, wherein the electric bicycle is travelingthrough a low lighted environment; wherein the hazard detection moduledetects the potential hazard is a vehicle moving towards the electricbicycle at a certain rate of speed above a threshold rate of speedassociated with a dangerous movement of the vehicle with respect to theelectric bicycle; and wherein the action selection module selects: asafety action that alerts the rider to the movement of the vehicletowards the electric bicycle at the certain rate of speed; and a safetyaction that causes the electric bicycle to emit safety illumination in adirection towards the vehicle.
 4. The electric bicycle of claim 1,wherein the hazard detection module detects the potential hazard is avehicle moving towards the electric bicycle at a certain rate of speedabove a threshold rate of speed associated with a dangerous movement ofthe vehicle with respect to the electric bicycle; and wherein the actionselection module selects: a safety action that alerts the rider to themovement of the vehicle towards the electric bicycle at the certain rateof speed; and a safety action that causes the electric bicycle totransmit a warning message to the vehicle.
 5. The electric bicycle ofclaim 1, wherein the one or more sensors include motion detectionsensors that capture data associated with movement of objects within theenvironment; and wherein the hazard detection module detects anoccurrence of a potential hazard to the electric bicycle or to a riderof the electric bicycle when the captured data identifies an objectmoving towards the electric bicycle or towards a path of travel of theelectric bicycle.
 6. The electric bicycle of claim 1, wherein the one ormore sensors include image detection sensors that identify types ofobjects within the environment; and wherein the hazard detection moduledetects an occurrence of a potential hazard to the electric bicycle orto a rider of the electric bicycle when the captured data identifies acertain type of object within a current path of travel of the electricbicycle.
 7. The electric bicycle of claim 1, wherein the one or moresensors include sound detection sensors that capture data associatedwith movement of objects within the environment; and wherein the hazarddetection module detects an occurrence of a potential hazard to theelectric bicycle or to a rider of the electric bicycle when the captureddata identifies an object moving towards the electric bicycle or towardsa path of travel of the electric bicycle.
 8. The electric bicycle ofclaim 1, wherein the one or more sensors include motion detectionsensors and image detection sensors, and wherein the hazard detectionmodule detects an occurrence of a potential hazard to the electricbicycle or to a rider of the electric bicycle when the captured dataidentifies a certain type of object moving towards a current path oftravel of the electric bicycle.
 9. The electric bicycle of claim 1,wherein the action selection module selects a safety action that alertsthe rider to the movement of the vehicle towards the electric bicycle atthe certain rate of speed via a display action performed by a userinterface of the electric bicycle.
 10. The electric bicycle of claim 1,wherein the action selection module selects a safety action that alertsthe rider to the movement of the vehicle towards the electric bicycle atthe certain rate of speed by presenting a vibration alert to the riderof the electric bicycle via one or both handlebar grips of the electricbicycle.
 11. The electric bicycle of claim 1, wherein the actionselection module selects a safety action that alerts the rider to themovement of the vehicle towards the electric bicycle at the certain rateof speed by causing the electric motor to perform a regenerative brakingaction.
 12. A method performed by a rider safety system stored in memoryof a controller of an electric bicycle, the method comprising: receivingdata captured by one or more sensors of the electric bicycle and from anenvironment through which the electric bicycle is traveling; detectingan occurrence of a potential hazard to the electric bicycle or to arider of the electric bicycle; detecting an immediacy of the potentialhazard to the electric bicycle or to the rider of the electric bicycle;and selecting a safety action based on the occurrence of the potentialhazard and the immediacy of the potential hazard.
 13. The method ofclaim 12, further comprising: causing the electric bicycle to performthe selected safety action in response to the detected potential hazardand the immediacy of the potential hazard.
 14. The method of claim 12,further comprising: determining a ride context associated with a routethrough which the electric bicycle is traveling within the environment;and selecting the safety action based on the occurrence of the potentialhazard, the immediacy of the potential hazard, and the ride contextassociated with the route through which the electric bicycle istraveling within the environment.
 15. The method of claim 12, whereinreceiving data captured by one or more sensors of the electric bicycleand from an environment through which the electric bicycle is travelingincludes receiving data captured by image detection sensors mounted tothe frame of the electric bicycle.
 16. The method of claim 12, whereinreceiving data captured by one or more sensors of the electric bicycleand from an environment through which the electric bicycle is travelingincludes receiving data captured by motion detection sensors mounted tothe frame of the electric bicycle.
 17. The method of claim 12, whereinreceiving data captured by one or more sensors of the electric bicycleand from an environment through which the electric bicycle is travelingincludes receiving data captured by environmental sensors mounted to theframe of the electric bicycle.
 18. A non-transitory computer-readablemedium whose contents, when executed by a rider safety system stored inmemory of a controller of an electric bicycle, causes the rider safetysystem to perform a method, the method comprising: detecting anoccurrence of a potential hazard to the electric bicycle or to a riderof the electric bicycle based on data from an environment through whichthe electric bicycle is traveling that is captured by one or moresensors of the electric bicycle; and selecting a safety action based onthe occurrence of the potential hazard, wherein the selected safetyaction includes: a safety action that alerts the rider to the occurrenceof the potential hazard to the electric bicycle or to the rider of theelectric bicycle; and a safety action that causes the electric bicycleto warn an entity associated with the potential hazard of the occurrenceof the potential hazard.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumof claim 18, further comprising: detecting an immediacy of the potentialhazard to the electric bicycle or to the rider of the electric bicycle;and selecting the safety action based on the occurrence of the potentialhazard and the detected immediacy of the potential hazard to theelectric bicycle or to the rider of the electric bicycle.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein theoccurrence of the potential hazard is a vehicle moving towards theelectric bicycle within the environment; wherein the safety action thatalerts the rider to the occurrence of the potential hazard to theelectric bicycle or to the rider of the electric bicycle includesdisplaying a warning to the rider of the electric bicycle via a userinterface of the electric bicycle; and wherein the safety action thatcauses the electric bicycle to warn the vehicle of the electric bicycleof the occurrence of the potential hazard includes: a safety action thatcauses the electric bicycle to emit safety illumination in a directiontowards the vehicle; and a safety action that causes the electricbicycle to perform an auditory alarm in a direction towards the vehicle.